'A^^£i'Siiff-.-'.'?::g^«a!ii 


RART    V 


GEOLOQY     AND      AGRICULTURE^ 


A  Preliminary  Report 


THE  GEOLOGY  OF  LOUISIAM 


GILBERT   D.  HARRIS,   Geologist-in-Charge 

n) 

AND 

A.   C.   VEATCH,   Assistant  Geologist 


MADE   UNDER    DIRECTION   OF   STATE   EXPERIMENT   STATION, 
BATON   ROUGE,  LA. 

WM.  C.  STUBBS,   Ph.D.,    Director 


Sc, 


Q£/f7 

AIZH2 


LOUISIANA  STATE  UNIVERSITY  AND  A.  AND  M.  COLLEGE. 


Louisiana  State  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Iinmig7'ation. 

Ex-Officio. 

GOVERNOR  MURPHY  J.  FOSTER,  President. 

WILLIAM  GARIG,  Vice-President  Board  of  Supervisors. 

LEON  JASTREMSKI,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and  Immigration. 

THOMAS  D.  BOYD,   President  State  University. 

WILLIAM  C.   STUBBS,  Director  State  Experiment  Stations. 

Members. 

JOHN  DYMOND.  Belair,  La.  Judge  EMILE  ROST,  St.  Rose,  La. 

A.  V.  EASTMAN,  Lake  Charles,  La.    CHAS.  SCHULER.  Keachie,  La. 

E.  T.  SELLERS,  Walnut  Lane,  La.    H.  P.  McCLENDON,  Amite  City,  La. 

Station  Staff. 

WM.  C.  STUBBS,  Ph.D.,  Director. 

R.  E.  BLOUIN,  M.S.,  Assistant  Director  and  Chemist,  Audubon  Park, 
New  Orleans,  La. 

J.  G.  LEE,  M.  S.,  Assistant  Director,  Calhoun,  La. 

H.  E.  WRIGHT,  B.S.,  Chemist,  Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans,  La. 

C.  E.  COATES,  JR.,  Ph.D.,  Chemist,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

J.  F.  HARP,  B.S.,  Assistant  Chemist,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

M.  BIRD,  M.S.,  Chemist,  Calhoun,  La. 

SIMON  BAUM,  B.S.,  Assistant  Chemist,  Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans,  La. 

ROBT.  GLENK,  B.S.,  Chemist,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Prof.  G.  D.  HARRIS,  Ph. B.,  Geologist  in  charge  of  Geological  Survey, 
Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans,  La. 

A.  C.  VEATCH,  Assistant  Geologist,  Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans,  La. 

W.  R.  DODSON,  A.B.,  S  B.,  Botanist,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

H.  A.  MORGAN,  B.S.A.,  Entomologist,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

F.  H,  BURNETTE,  Horticulturist,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

W.  H.  DALRYMPLE,  M.R.C.V.S.,  Veterinarian,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

GEO.  CHIQUELIN  (Grad.  Audubon  Sug.  Sch. ),  Sugar  Maker,  Audubon 
Park,  New  Orleans.  La. 

WM.  D.  CLAYTON,  M.S.,  Farm  Mgr.,  Audubon  Park,  New  Orleans,  La. 

JAS.  CLAYTON,  Farm  Mgr.,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

T.  I.  WATSON,  Farm  Mgr.,  Calhoun,  La. 

J.  K.  McHUGH,  vSecretary  and  Stenographer,  Audubon  Park,  New 
Orleans,  La. 

H.  SKOLFIELD,  Treasurer,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 


The  Bulletins  and  Reports  will  be  sent  free  of  charge  to  all  farmers  by 
applying  to  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and  Immigration, Baton  Rouge.La. 


CONTENTS 


Letters   of  Transmission 

Prefatory    Remarks 

Plans  of    Operation 


SECTION  I 

HISTORICAL  REVIEW 

BY 

Harris  and  Veatch 


SECTION  II 

GENERAL  GEOLOGY 

BY 

Harris  and  Veatch 


SECTION    III 

SPECIAL  PAPERS 

BY 

Various  Authors 


Office  of  Experiment  Stations, 
Louisiana  State  University  and  A.  and  M.  College, 
Baton  Rouge,  La.,  October,  1899. 

To  His  Excelle^icy  Murphy  J.  Foster,    Governor  of  Louisiana, 
and  President  of  Board  of  A gri culture  : 

Sir:  Since  our  last  report  of  the  Geological  and  Agricultural 
Survey,  a  complete  change  has  taken  place  in  the  personnel  of 
the  survey.  Prof.  W.  W.  Clendenin,  who  performed  the  duties 
of  Professor  of  Mineralogy  and  Geology  in  the  Louisiana  State 
University  and  A.  and  M.  College,  and  geologist  for  the  stations, 
has  severed  his  connections  with  both  institutions  by  resignation, 
and  taken  charge  of  Blees'  Militarj^  Academy,  at  Macon,  Mo. 

Upon  his  resignation  arrangements  were  made  with  Prof. 
Gilbert  D.  Harris,  Ph.B.,  of  Cornell  University,  who  is  the 
recognized  authority  of  this  country  in  Tertiary  geology, by  which 
he  was  to  conduct  the  survey  under  our  direction  and  publish 
annually  a  report  of  his  work.  He  gives  considerable  time  to 
the  actual  field  work  and  writes  and  superintends  the  publication 
of  his  reports.  Mr.  A.  C.  Veatch  has  been  selected  as  his  assist- 
ant and  gives  his  entire  time  to  the  field  and  office  work  of  the 
survey.  Mr.  Veatch  is  an  acknowledged  authority  upon  Quar- 
ternary  geology,  and  with  his  assistance  we  feel  satisfied  that  the 
entire  State,  which  consists  almost  exclusively  of  tertiary  and 
quarternary  formations,  will  be  correctly  and  fully  reported. 
These  two  gentlemen  have  persistently  followed  their  work 
through  freezes  and  sunshine,  over  intolerable  roads,  impelled 
by  an  enthusiasm  known  only  to  lovers  of  science.  How  well 
they  have  accomplished  their  work,  the  present  volume  will 
testify. 

Collections  of  typical  soils  have  been  made  and  are  being 
analyzed  both  physically  and  chemically  in  the  laboratories  of  the 
stations.  Besides  the  above,  in  November  next  Prof.  Milton 
Whitney  will  place  in  the  field  two  or  more  soil  physicists  who 
will  make  an  accurate  soil  survey  of  the  State,  and  in  his  labora- 
tory make  the  physical  analyses  of  all  these  soils,  giving  the 
results  to  us  for  publication.     It  is  hoped  and  believed  that  in 


Letters  of   Transmission.  5 

this  way  a  copious  volume  giving  full  information  of  the  proper- 
ties of  all  the  soils  of  the  State,  with  accurate  soil  maps,  will 
ultimately  be  given  to  the  public.  Such  a  work  will  be  of  incal- 
culable benefit  to  the  agriculture  of  the  State  besides  serving  as 
a  guide  in  giving  directions  to  the  various  farmers  and  planters 
who  seek  daily  knowledge  relative  to  the  capacity  and  require- 
ments of  their  soils  for  growing  various  crops. 

The  within  report  covers  the  following  subjects,  viz.:  Review 
of  the  Geological  Work  already  done  in  the  State,  General  Geol- 
ogy of  the  State,  and  Special  Reports,  including  variolas  topics 
of  economic  and  scientific  interest.      (See  Section  III.) 

It  is  found  difficult  to  carry  on  so  extensive  and  important  a 
work  as  this  upon  the  limited  appropriation  now  received.  To 
cover  accurately  an  area  of  45,000  square  miles,  giving  the  var- 
ious geological  horizons  ;  the  agricultural  and  forest  resources  ; 
the  mineral  and  underground  resources,  and  the  water  supplies, 
both  for  drinking,  irrigation  and  navigation,  requires  a  large 
amount  of  time  and  the  best  scientific  talent,  and  money  is 
required  for  the  successful  accomplishment  of  such  a  huge  task. 
In  fact,  a  geological  and  agricultural  survey  can  hardly  ever  be 
called  completed.  Increasing  population,  progress  and  enter- 
prise are  demanding  the  solution  of  problems  constantly  arising, 
and  the  State  should  always  be  ready  to  lend  its  assistance. 
With  increased  appropriations,  the  work  on  hand  could  be  more 
rapidly  prosecuted  and  the  information  gathered  thereby  the 
more  speedily  given  to  the  thousands  who  are  seeking  homes  in 
our  State  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  great  value  to  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  now  residents  in  our  borders. 

I  trust  that  sufficient  funds  will  be  appropriated  to  permit  of 
a  more  rapid  and  extensive  prosecution  of  the  work  under  the 
able  and  enthusiastic  men  now  employed  in  this  survey. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

WM.   C.   STUBBS,   Director. 


LETTER   OF  TRANSMISSION 


Dr.  Wm.  C.  Stubbs,  Director  State  Experiment 

Stations,  Baton  Rouge,  I,a. 

Sir :  I  herewith  present  you  a  Preliminary  Report  on  the 
Geology  of  Louisiana. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Veatch  acting  as  assistant  geologist,  commenced 
field  work  November  ist,  1898,  and  studied  the  distribution  of 
the  soils  of  Caddo  and  Bossier  parishes  until  my  arrival  in  the 
State,  December  23d.  Thereafter  we  worked  for  the  most  part 
together  in  De  Soto,  Sabine,  Natchitoches,  Grant,  Winn,  Cald- 
well and  Ouachita  parishes. 

After  my  departure  from  the  State,  the  last  of  March,  Mr. 
Veatch  continued  work  in  the  northern  tier  of  parishes  between 
Ouachita  river  and  Red  river  until  requested  by  you  to  visit  the 
Five  Islands  and  the  Sulphur  region  of  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  State.  This  done,  we  worked  on  the  report  herewith  trans- 
mitted from  mid-summer  to  late  autumn,  when  he  again  took  the 
field  and  I  saw  to  the  completion  of  the  report. 

I  gladly  take  this  opportunity  to  inform  you  that  Mr.  Veatch 
has  in  all  his  connections  with  this  survey,  shown  himself  a  most 
capable  and  energetic  assistant;  and  it  is  to  his  untiring  zeal, 
and  your  never  failing  and  well  directed  support  that  such  suc- 
cess as  the  survey  has  been  able  to  attain  is  largely  due. 
Most  respectfully  submitted, 

GILBERT  D.  HARRIS, 

Geologist-in-Charge. 

Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,    \ 
Nov.  25,  1899  \ 


PREFATORY  REMARKS 
Plans   of  Operatiox 

The  prosecution  of  a  well  organized  geological  survey  demands 
an  expenditure  of  funds  far  in  excess  of  those  now  at  our  com- 
mand.    This  the  reader  is  requested  to  constantlj^  bear  in  mind. 

With  much  volunteer  labor,  however,  we  have  been  able  to 
bring  together,  in  this  report  such  data  as  we  believe  will  be  of 
service  to  those  who  in  the  future  shall  investigate  special  prob- 
lems relating  to  the  geology  of  Louisiana.  This  remark  applies 
more  particularly  to  Section  land  portions  of  Section  II.  They 
show  what  has  already'  been  accomplished,  by  whom,  and  where. 
They  might  well  be  styled  a  summary'  of  geological  reconnais- 
sance work  in  Louisiana. 

Part  III  contains  the  beginnings  of  some  of  the  special  lines 
of  investigation  that  this  Surve}^  will,  we  hope,  be  able  to  take 
up  and  carry  out.     They  include  : 

(i)  The  mapping  geographically,  topographically,  and  geo- 
logicall3%  of  certain  areas  that  are  of  special  interest  either  (a)  on 
account  of  the  large  number  of  inhabitants  thej'  contain  and  to 
whom  such  maps  would  be  of  service,  or  (b)  on  account  of  some 
speciall}'  interesting  geological  phenemenon  they  exhibit,  or  (c) 
on  account  of  their  proximitj'  to  seats  of  learning  where  they 
will  be  of  service  to  teachers  who  wish  to  teach  geology  from 
their  own  surroundings — the  onl}-  true  way.  Detailed  reports 
should  accompany  these  sheets. 

(2)  The  gathering  of  information  for  agricultural  or  soil 
maps,  as  has  been  explained  in  Dr.  Stubb's  letter  heretofore 
affixed. 

(3)  The  working  out  of  the  stratigraphic  relations  of  the 
various  deposits  of  Louisiana.  This  can  be  done  by  (a)  study- 
ing with  great  care  the  fossil  remains  found  in  the  various  for- 
mations and  hence  identifying  deposits  bj'  the  fossils  they  con- 
tain, (b)  by  putting  down  test  wells  and  observing  the  nature 
of  the  different  beds  passed  through,  (c)  by  studying  the  stratig- 


8  Geological    Survey   of  Louisiana 

raphy  of  natural  sections,  along  rivers  and  smaller    streams  of 
water. 

U  ntil  a  thorough  knowledge  is  obtained  of  the  way  the  different 
deposits  lie  in  the  State,  all  questions  relating  to  artesian  waters, 
extent  of  mineral  deposits,  origin  of  soils,  etc.,  are  unanswer- 
able. 

(4)  The  determination  of  meridian  lines  and  of  the  amount 
and  direction  of  magnetic  forces  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
State — primarily  for  the  assistance  of  land-surveyors. 

(5)  The  investigation  of  the  different  mineral  products  of 
the  State. 

(6)  The   encouragement  of  road  improvement. 

So  far  as  (i)  is  concerned,  the  earliest  cooperation  with  the  U. 
S.  Geological  Survey  should  be  sought.  The  State  would  pay 
for  but  half  of  the  field  expense  of  topographic  work,  the  general 
Government  doing  all  the  rest. 

Cooperation  has  already  been  secured  for  work  outlined 
under  (2). 

The  Coast  Survey  is  ready  to  cooperate  as  regards  work  under 
(4)  and  its  aid  should  be  early  sought. 

In  case  funds  are  not  forthcoming  for  the  prosecution  of  all 
these  lines  of  work,  then  some  will  be  discarded  and  such  as 
seem  most  urgent  will  be  continued.  It  rests  with  the  people  to 
say  how  much  can  be  invested  in  work  of  this  nature,  and  with 
the  Geologist- in-Charge  to  see  that  due  returns  are  made  for 
the  investment,  be  it  great  or  small. 


Section  I 
HISTORICAL  REVIEW 

BY 

HARRIS   AND  VEATCH 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW 


CONTENTS 

PERIODS  OF  INVESTIGATIONS 

First  Period 

From  The  Earliest  Explorations  to   the  Year  1867 

Page  Page 

Earliest  explorers 11      Demeril 18 

Coxe II      Carpenter 18 

Bartram 12      Owe?i 19 

Dunbar 12      Talcott 19 

Stoddard •  •.  •  1*3    Jones 19 

Darby 14     Lyell 19 

Nuttall 15     Dickson  and  Brow7i 20 

Graham 15     Drake 21 

Delafield 15     Ellet 21 

Harlan 16      Thomassy 21 

Morton 17     Humphreys  and  Abbott 22 

Conrad 18     Owen 23 

Second  Period 

Reconnaissance  Period,  1S67-1892 

Hilgard 23      Gabb 37 

Hopkiyis 32    Johnson 37 

Edwards 36     Knowlto7i 38 

Hayes 36     Leidy 38 

Forshey 37 

Third  Period 

Period    of   Work  Done  Under  the    Direction  of  the 
Experiment  Stations 

Lerch 39      [  'aughan 42 

Harris 41      Clcndeniii 43 

Cope 42     Jolnison 43 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW 

PERIODS    OF  INVESTIGATION 

First  Period 
From  the  Earliest  Explorations  to  the  Year  1867 

Earliest  explorers. — Few  and  desultory  indeed  are  the  contri- 
butions made  to  the  geological  literature  of  this  State  up  to  the 
middle  of  the  present  century.  As  might  naturally  be  expected, 
it  was  the  Mississippi,  the  great  river,  that  first  attracted  and 
held  the  attention  of  the  earliest  explorers  and  naturalists  in 
this  region.  Commerce  dictated  that  its  mouths  should  be 
explored  and  mapped  at  an  early  date,  and  in  1722  P.  Charlevoix 
accomplished  this  task  in  a  highly  creditable  manner.*  He 
argued  in  a  truly  scientific  spirit  that  "the  quantity  of  shoals 
and  little  islands  that  have  been  seen  to  form  in  the  various 
mouths  of  the  river  during  the  past  twenty  years"  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  the  manner  and  comparatively  recent  date  of  forma- 
tion of  the  lower  delta  region. 

Coxe. — If  the  reference  of  Coxe  to  the  River  Natchitock  can 
be  taken  to  mean  the  Red  river,  and  it  seems  quite  probable 
that  they  are  the  same,  the  salt  springs  in  northern  Louisiana 
were  known  and  worked  in  the  very  early  history  of  this  country. 
He  says,  "  Ten  or  twelve  leagues  higher  on  the  west  side,"  [of 
the  Mississippi]  ' '  is  the  River  Natchitock,  which  has  a  course  of 
many  hundred  miles  ;  and  after  it  is  ascended  about  one  hun- 
dred, there  are  many  springs,  pitts,  and  lakes  which  afford  most 
excellent  common  salt  in  great  plenty,  wherewith  [the  Indians] 
trade  with  neigboring  nations  for  other  commodities  they  want. 
Upon  the  river  inhabit  not  only  the  Nachitocks,  Naguteeres, 
Natsohocks  but  higher  several  other  nations."!     On  the  next 

*  Thomassy,  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiaiie  accompagne  de6  planches, 
New  Orleans  and  Paris,  4°,    263  pp.,   figs,,    i860.     See  pp,  27-28. 

t  A  description  of  the  English  province  of  Carolina,  by  the  Spainards 
called  Florida  and  by  the  French  La  Louisiane,  and  also  of  the  great  and 
famous  River  Meschacebe,  or   Missisipi,  and   the  five  vast   navigable  lakes 


12  Geological  Sur\ev  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

river  above  the  river  of  the  Natchitocks  live  the  "Arkansas,  a 
mighty  nation." 

Bartram.'^ — In  1773  Win.  Bartram  started  on  his  journey  of 
the  Southern  States  ' '  for  the  discovery  of  rare  and  useful  pro- 
ductions of  nature,  chiefly  in  the  vegetable  kingdom." 

He  passed  through  Lake  Pontchartrain  and  ascended  the  Mis- 
sissippi as  far  as  Point  Coupe.  The  plainsf  near  Port  Hudson 
he  described  as  showing  "  whitish  clay  or  chalk,  with  veins  of 
sea-shells,  chiefly  of  those  little  clams  called  les  coquelles  \^Ra7i- 
gia\  interspersed  with  the  white  earth  or  clay,  so  tenaceous  and 
hard  as  to  render  it  quite  sterile." 

He  described  the  Port  Hudson^  bluff  as  consisting  of  strata 
of  various  colors,  white,  red,  blue,  purple  sand,  marl  and  chalk. 
He  observed  the  cypress  stump  stratum  at  the  base  of  the  cliff, 
and  comments  on  the  same  as  follows:  "These  stumps  are 
sound,  stand  upright,  and  seem  to  be  rotted  off  about  two  or  three 
feet  above  the  spread  of  the  roots  ;  their  trunks,  limbs,  etc.,  lie 
in  all  directions  about  them.  But  when  these  swampy  forests 
were  growing,  and  by  what  cause  they  were  cut  off  and  over- 
whelmed by  the  various  strata  of  earth,  which  now  rise  near  one 
hundred  feet  above,  at  the  brink  of  the  cliff,  and  two  or  three 
times  that  height  but  a  few  hundred  yards  back,  is  a  phenom- 
enon not  easily  developed." 

Dunbar. — In  1801  Wm.  Dunbar,  of  Natchez,  sent  a  letter  to  the 
president  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  extracts  of 
which  were  published  in  the  Transactions  for  that  year  (vol.  vi, 


of  fresh  water  and  the  parts  adjacent.  Together  with  an  account  of  the 
commodities  of  the  growth  and  production  of  the  said  province.  And  a 
preface  containing  some  considerations  of  the  consequences  of  the  French 
making  settlements  there.  By  Daniel  Coxe.  Second  edition.  London 
1726.     See  pp.  ic-ii. 

*Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  east  and  west 
Florida,  the  Cherokee  country,  the  extensive  territories  of  the  Musco- 
gulges,  or  Creek  Confederacy,  and  the  country  of  the  Choctaws  ;  contain- 
ing an  account  of  the  soil  and  natural  productions  of  those  regions,  together 
with  observations  on  the  manners  of  the  Indians  Embellished  with  cop- 
per plates.     B3-  Wm.  Bartram,  Phila.,  1791. 

tibid.  p.  431. 

ilbid.  p.  435 


I]  Historical  Review:    First  Periods  13 

pp.  40-42)  recounting  the  discovery  of  fossil  bones  to  the  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  supposed  to  resemble  those  of  the  big  bone 
lick  near  the  Ohio. 

Two  years  later  he  forwarded  to  the  same  society  (see  vol.  vi, 
pp.  55-58)  a  letter  received  from  Martin  Duralde  from  the 
' '  country  of  the  Apelousas  ' '  relating  to  the  occurrence  of  fossil 
remains,  supposed  to  be  elephant  bones,  in  that  region.  Fur- 
thermore, "  M.  Duralde  in  sinking  a  well  in  his  cow-yard  found 
sound  oyster  shells,  lying  in  a  horizontal  direction,  near  to  each 
other,  at  a  depth  of  22  feet." 

In  1804,  Dunbar  contributed  an  extended  article  to  the  same 
Transactions  (pp.  165  et  seq.)  entitled  "Description  of  the  River 
Mississippi  and  its  Delta,  with  that  of  the  adjacent  parts  of  Louis- 
iana."    This  contains  little  of  geological  interest. 

Stoddard* — In  his  Sketches  of  Louisiana,  Maj.  Stoddard 
comments  as  follows  on  the  delta  regionf  :  "Nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  the  delta  has  gradually  risen  out  of  the  sea,  or 
rather  that  it  has  been  formed  by  alluvion  substances,  precipi- 
tated by  the  water  from  the  upper  regions.  It  is  calculated  that 
from  1720  to  1800,  a  period  of  eighty  years,  the  land  has  advanced 
fifteen  miles  into  the  sea  ;  and  there  are  those  who  assert,  that 
it  has  advanced  three  miles  within  the  memory  of  middle  aged 
men." 

His  notice  of  the  Five  Islands  reads  as  follows  :  "There  is  an 
island  of  about  three  miles  in  circumference,  situated  in  the  gulf 
a  few  miles  to  the  westward  of  the  mouth  of  the  Chafalia,  ele- 
vated more  than  two  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea  and 
connected  with  the  mainland  by  a  sea  marsh.  Most  of  the 
islands  along  the  shores  of  the  Mexican  gulf  exhibit  this  proud 
pre-eminence,  while  the  country  for  a  great  depth  is  most  of  the 
time  covered  with  water.  Some  of  them  are  impregnated  with 
sulphur,  and  one  of  them  has  been  known  to  be  on  fire  for  at  least 
three  months." 

The  production  of  the  saline  springs  near  Natchitoches  is  given 


*Sketches,   Historical   and   Descriptive,    of   Louisiana.     By  Major  Amos 
Stoddard.     Phila.  1812. 
flbid.  p.  158. 


14  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

as  about  two  hundred  and  forty  barrels  of  salt  per  month.*  On 
page  1 86  the  cause  of  the  rapids  at  the  site  of  Alexandria  is 
ascribed  to  "two  ledges  of  hard  indurated  clay,  or  soft  rock 
which  extend  across  the  channel  at  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile 
from  each  other." 

Lignite  also  receives  notice  in  this  work.  He  says  :  "Stone  or 
pit-coal  is  an  article  of  some  importance It  fre- 
quently makes  its  appearance  on  the  Washita,  the  Sabine,  and 
the  Red  river,  particularly  on  the  borders  of  a  lake  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Nachitoches.  This  article  is  of  use  to  smiths,  even 
at  this  time,  and  its  importance  will  increase  as  the  country 
becomes  more  populous  and  the  villages  enlarge."! 

Darby. X% — Though  Darby's  works  were  of  a  general  nature  as 
the  titles  indicate  he  wove  in  many  geological  facts  and  observa- 
tions quite  in  advance  of  anything  that  had  preceded  his  works 
and  in  fact  by  no  means  equalled  by  many  of  his  successors. 

He  calls  attention  to  the  salt  deposits  on  the  Saline  (Drake's) 
(see  Geog.  La.  pp.  29  and  211  and  Emigrant's  p.  89)  on  the 
land  of  Mr.  Postlethwait. 

He  describes   the  occurrence  of  dead  cypress  trees    in  Lake 


■^Ibid.  p.  400. 

flbid.  pp.  391-392- 

:{:A  Geographical  Description  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  :  presenting  a  view 
of  the  vSoil,  Climate,  Animal,  Vegetable  and  Mineral  Productions,  Illustra- 
tive of  its  Natural  Physiognomy,  its  Geographical  Configuration,  and  Rela- 
tive Sitiiation  :  with  an  account  of  the  Character  and  Manners  of  the 
Inhabitants.  Being  an  Accompaniment  to  the  Map  of  Loi^isiana.  By 
William  Darby.     Phila.,  i8r6. 

§The  Emigrant's  Guide  to  the  Western  and  Southwestern  States  and 
Territories  ;  comprising  a  Geographical  and  Statistical  Description  of  the 
States' of  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio;  the 
Territories  of  Alabama,  Missouri,  Illinois,  and  Michigan  ;  and  the  western 
parts  of  Virginia,  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  With  a  complete  List  of 
the  Road  and  River  Routes  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  the  con- 
necting roads  from  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Washington  City  to  New 
Orleans,  St.  Louis  and  Pittsburg.  The  whole  comprising  a  more  compre- 
hensive Account  of  the  Soil,  Productions,  Climate,  and  present  state  of 
Improvement  of  the  Regions  described,  than  any  Work  hitherto  published. 
Accompanied  by  a  map  of  the  LTnited  States,  including  Louisiana.  Pro- 
jected and  Engraved  expressly  for  this  work.  By  W^illiam  Darby,  New 
York,  1818. 


I]  Historical  Review  :  First  Period  15 

Bistineau  (Geog.  La.  pp.  31-32)  and  attributes  the  origin  of 
this  and  similarly  located  lakes  to  the  choking  up  of  small 
stream  valleys  by  Red  river  sedimentation. 

On  pp.  45-46  the  occurrence  of  rocks  (now  called  Grand  Gulf) 
on  the  Ouachita  river  on  the  western  angle  of  Sicily  island  is 
noted  and  they  are  properly  correlated  with  similar  exposures  on 
Red  river  at  Alexandria.  He  mentions  also  rock  exposures  on  the 
Sabine,  p.  23,  but  does  not  correlate  the  same  with  the  Sicily 
island  beds. 

He  describes  with  care  the  river  systems  of  the  State  and  dis- 
cusses at  length  the  various  prairies  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  State.  He  noticed  marine  shells  in  the  banks  of  Red  river, 
propably  at  the  now  well-known  locality  at  Montgomery.* 

His  description  of  the  Five  Islands  is  much  more  complete 
and  exact  than  Stoddard's,  being  based  on  a  personal  examina- 
tion of  Petite  Anse.  He  noted  the  existence  of  a  salt  spring 
on  Petite  Anse  from  which  salt  had  been  manufactured.! 

Nuttall. — In  182 1  Thomas  Nuttall  mentions  ferruginous  con- 
glomerate resembling  the  New  Jersey  conglomerate  (afterwards 
referred  to  the  Cretaceous  by  Morton)  as  extending  for  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  above  Alexandria, J  This  seems  to  have  been 
the  first  of  the  early  erroneous  references  of  Louisiana  material 
to  the  Cretaceous. 

Graham. % — The  reports  of  the  general  land  office  for  1824 
give  the  location  by  townships  of  two  salt  springs  in  the  region 
north  of  Red  river.  "One  in  township  No.  12  of  range  No. 
5  West"  (probably  Drake's).  "  The  other  in  township  No. 
13  of  range  No.  4  West  "   (Price's). 

Delafield.\ — A  good  description  of  the  topographical  features  of 
the    mud-lumps  of  the  passes  of  the   Mississippi  was  given  by 

*  Geographical  Description  of  Louisiana,  p.  48. 

t  Emigrant's  Guide  p.  68, 

ifjour.  Phila.  Acad.  Sci.,  ist  series,  vol.  2,  p.  46. 

tiGeorge  Graham,  Report  of  the  Commisssioner  of  the  general  Land 
OfHce  in  Relation  to  Lead  Mines  and  Salt  Springs.  i8th  Cong,  ist  Sess., 
House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  6,  No.  128,  1824,  pp.  14-15. 

II Report  on  the  Survey  of  the  Passes  of  the  Mississippi,  21  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc.  No.  7,  vol.  i,  pp.  7-14,  1829.  Reprint,  39th  Cong, 
ist.   Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc.  No.  97,  vol.  12,  pp.  2-3,  1866. 


i6  Geological  Survey   of   Loulsiana  [Sect. 

Richard  Delafield  in  1829.  Their  life  history  is  also  fully- 
described. 

An  examination  in  the  early  part  of  the  same  year  by  Bernard 
and  Poussin  resulted  in  a  very  brief  description  of  the  character 
of  the  material  thrown  out  of  the  lumps.* 

Harlan. — The  first  contribution  to  the  systematic  geology  of 
the  State  may  be  regarded  as  Article  XII  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  vol.  4,  New  Series,  1832, 
p.  397,  et  seg.,  entitled  "  Notice  of  Fossil  Bones  found  in  the 
Tertiary  Formation  of  the  State  of  Louisiana.  By  Richard 
Harlan,  M.D.,  etc.       Read  October  19,  1832." 

Dr.  Harlan  here  describes  some  of  the  large  fossil  bones  sent 
him  by  Judge  Bry  ' '  found  on  the  Ouachita  river  in  the  state  of 
Louisiana,  at  a  distance  (south)  of  about  fifty  miles  by  land, 
and  one  hundred  and  ten  by  water  from  the  town  of  Monroe,  in 
the  parish  of  Ouachita,  and  in  lat.  31°  46'  or  48'." 

Judge  Bry 's  comments  on  the  geology  of  northern  Louisiana  are 
as  follows  :  "  The  hills,  beginning  at  Cataouta,  extend  north  to 
the  Arkansas  river  and  west  to  Red  river,  whence  they  spread 
to  the  Sabine.  Through  that  country  are  interspersed  over- 
flowed lands  varying  in  extent  according  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  creeks,  of  which  they  form  the  bank  at  low  water,  and  which 
flow  over  them  at  high  water.  In  these  hills  very  few  ores  are 
found  except  those  of  iron,  which  are  abundant  in  two  different 
places ;  but  no  measures  have  been  taken  to  ascertain  their 
value.  The  highest  of  the  hills  do  not  exceed  eight  hundred 
feet  above  high  water  mark  ;  and  in  many  places  they  dwindle 
into  gently  rolling  ground.  These  hills  appear  to  be  of  a  much 
more  ancient  formation  than  the  lower  section  of  Louisiana. 
No  rocks,  however,  enter  into  their  composition  ;  but  a  few 
sandy  stones  and  pebbles,  nearly  all  siliceous,  are  occasionally 
seen  scattered  on  their  summits,  or  in  the  beds  of  the  numerous 
creeks  fed  by  springs  issuing  from  them. 

' '  Sea  shells  are  discovered  in  several  places  ;  I  found  them 

on  the  highest   ridge  which  divides  the  waters  running  into  the 

Red  river    from   the   tributary  streams  of  the  Ouachita.     The 

tract,  by    far  the  richest   in    calcareous  substances,  is  the  one 

*22d  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  4,  No.  185,  1832. 


I]  Historical   Review  :   First   Period  17 

within  the  limits  where  the  fossil  bones  have  been  found, 
extending  about  fifteen  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  probably 
ten  or  twelve  from  east  to  west.  Several  years  ago,  while 
rambling  among  these  hills,  I  met  with  a  small  creek,  the  banks 
of  which  are  in  some  places  thirty  feet  high,  in  which  I  found 
many  different  species  of  sea  shells,  among  others,  pectenites, 
belemyiites ,  etc.  At  the  same  time,  my  attention  was  attracted  by 
a  large  quantity  of  cornua  arninoyiis^  the  largest  of  which  did 
not  exceed  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter,  while  many  were 
much  smaller. 

"  The  hill,  in  which  the  bones  herewith  presented  were  found, 
is  within  the  limits  above  described,  at  a  distance  of  not  more 
than  two  hundred  yards  from  the  Ouachita  river.  About  three 
years  ago,  after  the  occurrence  of  a  long  spell  of  rainy  weather, 
a  part  of  the  hill  slid  down  near  the  water's  edge,  and  thereby 
exposed  twenty-eight  of  these  bones,  which  had  been  until  then 
covered  by  an  incumbent  mass  of  earth  about  forty  feet  thick. 
They  were  embedded  in  a  bank  of  sea  marl,  a  specimen  of  which 
is  added  to  the  bones,  as  well  as  the  calcareous  spar  and  talc 
also  found  in  the  same  hill.  I  followed  the  horizontal  vein  of 
this  marl,  five  or  six  inches  thick,  which  I  traced  to  a  distance 
of  about  forty  feet,  when  it  sinks  into  the  valley  under  an  angle 
of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  degrees.  It  appeared  to  have 
effloresced  where  it  had  been  long  exposed  to  the  influence  of 
the  atmosphere. 

"When  these  bones  were  first  seen,  they  extended  in  a  line, 
which,  from  what  the  person  living  near  the  place  showed  me, 
comprised  a  curve,  measuring  upwards  of  four  hundred  feet  in 
length,  with  intervals  which  were  vacant.  The  person  referred 
to  destroyed  many  of  the  bones  by  employing  them  instead  of 
andirons  in  his  fire  place  and  I  saved  what  remained  from  the 
same  fate.  I  think,  however,  that  a  great  many  more  bones 
belonging  to  the  same  animal  are  yet  covered,  and  will  gradually 
appear,  as  the  soil  and  the  marl  shall  be  washed  off  by  the  rain." 

Harlan  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  bones  under  consideration 
were  of  a  huge  lizard-like  reptile  and  proposed  for  the  animal 
represented  the  name  "'  Basilosau7-2is." 

Morton. — The  following  year  Morton  concluded  from  the  fos- 


i8  Gp:olo(;ical   Survey   of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

sils  mentioned  in  Dr.  Bry's  letter  that  the  material  represented 
was  Cretaceous,  and  from  a  letter  received  from  Dr.  Pitcher 
states  that  the  ' '  ferruginous  sand  formation  ' '  (Cretaceous)  out- 
crops between  Alexandria  and  Natchitoches.*  It  is  hardly  nec- 
essary to  remark  that  neither  of  these  statements  is  supported  bj' 
our  present  knowledge  of  that  region. 

Conrad. — In  the  Journal  of  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences,  vol.  7,  1834,  p.  120,  T.  A.  Conrad  refers  to 
the  shells  found  in  connection  with  the  Basilosaunis  to  the 
Eocene  series,  and  states  that  the  commonest  fossil  is  Corbula 
07iiscus,  a  common  Claiborne  fossil.  He  states  that  the  bones 
were  doubtless  from  a  nearby  Cretaceous  stratum,  not  from  the 
the  Eocene  as  stated  by  Harlan. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  for  1841,  p.  33,  Conrad  describes  one  of  the  mollus- 
can  species  found  at  the  same  locality.  He  names  it  Cardiinn 
jiicolleti  and.  gives  its  provenance  as  "  Green  clay,  50  feet  high, 
right  bank  of  the  Washita  river,  Monroe  County,  La."  The 
same  fossil  is  described  on  p.  190,  vol.  8,  of  the  Journal  of  the 
same  society. 

Demeril.'\ — Harlan's  description  of  the  Basilosaurus  soon 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  French  savants.  M.  Demeril  in 
1838  pointed  out  the  true  character  of  the  animal.  He  says, 
"  As  to  the  Basilosaunis  presented  for  comparison,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  vertebrse  believed  to  have  come  from  this  fossil 
seem  rather  to  be  from  a  cetacean  than  a  reptile. ' ' 

Carpenter. — During  the  same  period  William  Carpenter  was 
gathering  together  information  on  the  geology  of  the  southern 
part  of  Louisiana.  He  records  the  finding  of  vertebrate  remains 
in  two  localities.  One  on  little  Baj'ou  Sara  in  the  parish  of  West 
Feliciana  where  he  found  teeth  and  fragments  of  the  jaw  of  a 
mastodon,  and  a  tooth  of  an  Eqims,  much  larger  than  the  modern 
horse.     This  he  figures  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  vol. 


*Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  23,  pp.,  288,  1833.  Also  Synopsis  of  the  Organic 
Remains  of  the  Cretaceous  Group  of  the  United  States,  by  Samuel  George 
Morton.     Phila.,  1834. 

fCompte  Rendu  des  Seances  de  I'Academie  des  Sciences,  Oct.  22,  1838, 
Paris. 


I]  Historical    Review  :    First   Period  19 

34,  p.  203,  1838.  The  other  near  Opelousas  where  mastodon 
bones  were  also  found.*  He  described  with  considerable  detail 
the  Port  Hudson  section,  and  traced  in  the  Florida  parishes,  the 
northern  limit  of  what  is  now  called  the  Port  Hudson  group. f 

Owen. — Dr.  Harlan  had  received  later  on  some  more  perfect 
specimens  of  his  Basilosaurus  from  Alabama  and  these  he  took 
with  him  to  lyondon  in  1839,  and  submitted  them  to  Richard 
Owen,  who  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  that  the  huge  mon- 
ster was  an  aquatic  mammal  of  dugong,  or  whale-like  a£5nities. 
He  gave  the  name  Zeuglodon  cetoides  to  the  species.  His  studies 
and  conclusions  are  given  at  length  on  pp.  69-79,  Trans.  Geol. 
Soc,  IyOnd.,vol.  6,  1842. 

Talcott. — The  subject  of  rendering  the  mouths  of  the  Missis- 
sippi navigable  to  vessels  of  deep  draught  seems  to  have  agitated 
the  public  mind  from  an  earl}-  date.  The  report  of  Joseph  G. 
Totten  to  the  war  department  in  1839  contains  a  very  accurate 
map  of  the  mouths  of  this  river,  and  drawings  of  two  of  the 
mud  lumps  by  Captain  Andrew  Talcott.  + 
Jones. — In  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  3d  series,  vol. 

2,  1841,  pp.  83,  Engineer  A.  C.  Jones  gives  a  very  accurate 
description  of  the  physical  characters  of  the  mud-lumps  at  the 
mouths  of  the  Mississippi. 

Z,j'^//.— The  Athenaeum  Journal  for  Sept.  26,  1846,  contains  an 
article  by  Sir  Charles  L,yell  ' '  On  the  Delta  and  Alluvial  Deposits 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  other  points  in  the  Geology  of  North 
America  observed  in  the  years  1845,  1846."  This  was  repub- 
lished in  the  Report  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  for  1847,  vol.  16,  pp.  117-125.  An  abstract  of 
the  same  occurs  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  2d  series,  vol. 

3,  1847,  pp.  34  and   118. 

Herein  the  author  states  that  he  doubts  whether  the  delta 
advances  over  one  mile  a  century  into  the  gulf.  On  p. 36  (A.  J.S.) 
he  states  that  the  matter  held  in  suspension  by  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi  is  about  yyVt  ^^^  weight  of  the  water  itself.  On  p. 
118  he  changes  the  proportion  to  y-Vtt- 

*Am,  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  35,  pp.  345-346,  1838. 
fAm.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  36,  pp.  118-124,  1839. 
JSenateDoc,  No.  463,  26th  Con.,  istSess.,  vol.  7,  1840. 


20  Geological   Survey  of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

In  volume  2  of  his  Second  Visit  to  the  United  States,  pub- 
lished (3d  ed.)  1855,  Lyell  (p.  153)  is  greatly  impressed  with 
the  stability  of  the  general  features  of  the  mouths  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  concludes  that  "we  must  allow  an  enormous  period  of 
time"  for  the  accumulation  of  the  material  constituting  the  whole 
delta.  On  p.  250  he  estimates  67,000  years  for  the  time  required 
for  the  formation  of  the  delta. 

On  pages  180-182  he  describes  the  interesting  bluff  at  Port 
Hudson  after  quoting  largely  from  Bartram  and  Carpenter. 

Natchez  bluff  is  next  described  (p.  194)  as  follows  :  "The  lower 
strata,  laid  open  to  view,  consist  of  gravel  and  sand,  destitute  of 
organic  remains,  except  some  wood  and  silicified  corals,  and  other 
fossils,  which  have  been  derived  from  older  rocks  ;  while  the 
upper  sixty  feet  are  composed  of  yellow  loam,  presenting  as  it 
wastes  away,  a  vertical  face  towards  the  river.  From  the  surface 
of  the  clayey  precipice  are  seen  projecting  in  relief,  the  whitened 
and  perfect  shells  of  land  snails  of  the  genera  Helix,  Heli- 
ci7ia.  Pupa,  Cyclostoma,  Achatina  and  Sticciyiea.  These  shells  of 
which  we  collected  twenty  species,  are  all  specifically  identical 
with  those  now  inhabiting  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

"  The  resemblance  of  this  loam  to  that  fluviatile  slit  of  the  val- 
ley of  the  Rhine,  between  Cologne  and  Basle,  which  is  generally 
called  "loess"  and  "lehm"  in  Alsace,  is  most  perfect.  In  both 
countries  the  genera  of  shells  are  the  same,  and  as,  in  the  ancient 
alluvium  of  the  Rhine,  the  loam  sometimes  passes  into  a  lacus- 
trine deposit  containing  shells  of  the  genera  Lyninaa,  Planorbis, 
and  Cyclas,  so  I  found  at  Washington,  about  seven  miles  inland 
or  eastward  from  Natchez  a  similar  passage  of  the  American 
loam  into  a  deposit  evidently  formed  in  a  pond  or  lake.  It  con- 
sisted of  marl  containing  shells  of  LymncEa,  Planorbis,  Paludina, 
Physa  and  Cyclas,  specifically  agreeing  with  testacea  now  inhab- 
iting the  United  States."  He  records  Mastadon,  Megalonyx, 
horse,  stag,  etc.,  from  these  loams. 

Dickeson  a7id  Brown. — At  the  first  meeting  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  held  at  Philadelphia 
in  1848,  Dr.  Dicke.son  read  a  joint  paper  on  "The  Sediment  of 
the  Mississippi,"  in  which  the  statement  is  made  that  the  delta 
of  the  Mississippi  has  been  no  less  than  14,204  years  in  forming. 
(See  p.  51,  Proc.  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  vol.  i.) 


I]  Historical  Review  :   First   Period  21 

Drake.^ — In  a  volume  entitled  the  "  Principal  Diseases  of  the 
Interior  Valley  of  North  America,"  Dr.  Daniel  Drake  succeeded 
in  weaving  in  many  facts  and  statements  of  geological  interest. 
His  description  of  the  mud  lumps  (pp.  91-94)  is  particularly 
good  and  deserves  attention  because  he  advances  the  gas  theory 
for  the  formation  of  these  objects.  He  gives  (p.  71)  a  well  sec- 
tion on  Lake  Pontchartrain  and  the  section  exposed  in  the  gas 
tank  excavation  at  New  Orleans.  On  page  161  he  states  that 
the  geological  formation  about  Fort  Jessup  is  Tertiary. 

Ellet. — In  1853  appeared  a  somewhat  extensive  work  on  the 
lower  Mississippi  by  Charles  Ellet,  C.  E.f  This  book  is  severely 
criticised  by  Jones  in  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  vol. 
26,  1853.      (See  pp.    60  and  162.) 

Thomassy.\  —  In  i860,  Reymond  Thomassy  published  his 
"  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,"  both  in  this  country  and 
in  France  (Paris). 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  use  of  the  word  ' '  pratique  ' '  in 
his  title,  Thomassy  had  access  to  and  used  to  good  advantage  the 
earlier  rare  contributions  to  the  cartography  of  Louisiana.  His 
geology,  was  in  the  main  limited  to  a  discussion  of  the  role  the 
Mississippi  river  has  played  in  the  formation  of  the  so-called 
delta  region  of  the  State.  Particularly  was  he  impressed  with 
the  multifold  manifestations  of  water  absorption  all  along  the 
Mississippi  and  its  consequent  diminution  in  volume  gulf-wards, 
and  the  appearance  of  lateral  springs,  lakes  and  terminal  mud- 
lump  volcanoes,  all  having  their  origin  in  the  porosity  of  the 
grounds  of  southern  Louisiana  and  the  consequent  subter- 
ranean flow  of  large  quantities  of  water. 

*  A  Systematic  Treatise,  Historical,  Etiological,  and  Practical,  on  the 
Principal  Diseases  of  the  Interior  Valley  of  North  America,  as  they  appear 
in  the  Caucasian,  African,  Indian  and  Esquimaux  varieties  of  its  popula- 
tion.    By  Daniel  Drake,  M.D.,  Cincinnati,  1850. 

t  The  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers  ;  containing  plans  for  the  protection 
against  inundations  and  investigation  of  the  Practicability  and  cost  of 
improving  the  Navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  other  rivers  by  means  of  Reser- 
voirs ;  with  an  appendix  on  the  bars  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  8°, 
367  pp.,  1853,  Lippincott  &  Co.,  See  Review  in  Jour.  Franklin  inst.,  3d 
series,  vol.  25,  pp.  360. 

X  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane  par  R.  Thomassy.  ( Accompagne  de 
6 planches.)     Chez  1  'auteur  a  la  Novella-Orleans,  et  a  Paris,  i860. 


22  Geological   Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Chapter  VIII,  he  devotes  to  a  discussion  of  the  Five  Islands, 
under  this  caption  :  "Intervention  of  Hydro-Thermal  and  Vol- 
canic Forces  in  the  Formation  of  Lower  Louisiana."  (See 
special  discussion  of  this  subject,  special  report  No.   3.) 

Humphreys  and  Abbott.'^ — By  far  the  most  serious  study  of 
the  lower  Mississippi  in  all  its  bearings,  is  that  by  Humphreys 
and  Abbott,  first  published  in  1861  and  afterwards  with  additions 
in  1876.  The  hydrography  and  geology  of  the  whole  Mississippi 
basin  are  taken  into  account  in  order  to  form  just  conclusions 
regarding  the  special  subjects  under  consideration. 

They  hold  that  the  river  alluvium  is  a  comparatively  thin 
stratum  underlaid  by  blue  clay  of  wide  geographical  distribution 
and  of  Tertiary  or  even  Cretaceous  age.  It  is  said  to  underlie 
the  Vicksburg  bluff,  the  whole  Yazoo  bottom,  and  to  underlie 
New  Orleans  at  a  depth  of  not  more  than  40  feet.  It  forms 
the  bar  of  tough  clay  across  the  efflux  of  the  Atchafalaya  35  feet 
below  the  bank  and  15  feet  below  Gulf  level.  An  artesian  well 
boring  in  the  Atchafalaya  upon  Gen.    Welles'   plantation,  10  or 

15  miles  south  of  Alexandria  shows  that  the  alluvial  soil  there 
is  30  feet  thick,  the  surface  of  the  older  formation  being 
about  50  feet  above  tide. 

For  an  extensive  review  of  this  work  see  Amer.  Jour.  Sci., 
vol.  33,  1862,  p.    181  ;  vol.  35,  1863,  p.    223  ;  vol.  36,  1863,    pp. 

16  and  147. 

In  the  edition  of  1876,  pp.  465-466,  it  is  stated  that  the 
"original  mouth  "  of  the  Mississippi  was  near  the  efflux  of  the 
Plaquemine,  220  miles  from  the  Gulf. 

By  comparing  Talcott's  maps,  1838,  and  the  U.  S.  Coast 
Survey  maps  of  1851  it  is  found  that  the  yearly  advance  of  all 
the  passes  is  262  feet  per  annum.  The  total  advance  from  the 
Plaquemine  efflux  has  taken  4,400  years. 


*  Report  on  the  Ph^-sics  and  Hydraulics  of  the  Mississippi  River  ;  upon  the 
protection  ot  the  aUuvial  region  against  overflow  and  uporf  the  deepening 
of  the  mouths.  Based  upon  surveys  and  investigations  (etc.)  U.  S.  Army, 
Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers,  Professional  papers.  No.  4,  xiii,  456, 
cxlvi  pages,  20  plates,  4°,  Philadelphia,  1861  ;  also  Washington,  1867. 
Again  214  pages,  i  plate,  Washington,  1867.  With  additions,  691  pages,  25 
plates  (Professional  papers,  No.  13),  Washington,  1876. 


I]  Historical    Review  :    vSecond   Period  23 

Oiven.'^ — Dr.  Richard  Owen  of  Indiana  visited  Petite  Anse 
in  the  latter  part  of  1865.  After  a  hast}'  examination  he  showed 
that  the  island  was  composed  of  sedimentar}-  material  and  con- 
cluded that  it  was  a  wind  and  wave  formed  dune  similar  to  those 
on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan. 

SECOND    PERIOD 
Reconnaissance  Period,  i 867-1 892 

Hilgard. — In  1867,  Hilgard,  under  the  direction  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  made  a  trip  down  the  Mississippi  and  to  the 
central  three  of  the  Five  Islands.  The  preliminar}^  report  on  this 
reconnaissance  appeared  in  1869.;!:  At  that  time  he  regarded  the 
rock  salt  as  having  been  formed  by  evaporation  in  a  lagoon  or 
series  of  lagoons  and  as  resting  in  a  bed  of  marine  clays  of 
early  Quaternary  age.  He  considered  the  hills  as  simply  the 
accidents  of  differential  erosion. 

The  same  year  he  published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science 
the  "  Summary  Results  of  a  late  Geological  Reconnaissance  of 
Louisiana."  It  was  based  on  operations  largely  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State  and  was  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  New 
Orleans  Academj^  of  Sciences.  Thirty  days  only  were  allowed 
for  the  field  work.  New  Iberia,  Bayou  Chicot,  Lake  Charles, 
Sabinetown,  Many,  Mansfield,  Coushatta  Chute,  Winnfield  and 
Harrisonburg  were  passed  through  en  route. 

He  reviews  the  various  terranes  of  the  State,  commencing 
with  the  younger  or  "  Port  Hudson  group  "  and  notices  in  turn 
the  other  groups,  viz.:  the  "Orange  Sand  formation,"  the 
' '  Grand  Gulf  group  ; " '  the  ' '  Vicksburg  group  ; ' '  the  ' '  Mansfield 
group  ;"  and  then  takes  up  and  discusses  the  salines  of  North 
Louisiana  and  the  artesian  wells  of  Calcasieu. 

The  Port  Hudson  group  is  said  to  be  of  considerable  thickness, 
600  feet  or  more  beneath  New  Orleans  and  to   extend  up  the 


*On  the  Rock  Salt  at  New  Iberia,  Louisiana  by  Prof.  Richard  Owen 
Trans.  Acad.  Sci.,  St.  Louis,  vol.  2,  pp.  250-252,  1868.  Abstract,  Am.  Jour. 
Sci.,  2d  Series,  vol.  42,  pp.  120-123,  1868. 

:t:Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d.  ser.,  vol.  47,  pp.  78-88,  1869;  also  Am.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.,  Proc,  vol.  17,  pp.  327-340. 


24  Geological   Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

Mississippi    as    far    as    Memphis  and    the   Red   to  Shreveport. 

To  account  for  the  occurrence  of  the  Orange  Sand  as  seen  in 
Louisiana  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  "in  late  Quaternary 
times  the  Gulf  coast  has  suffered  a  depression  to  the  extent  of 
at  least  nine  hundred  feet  (perhaps  more),  and  during  the 
Terrace  epoch,   a  contrary  motion  of  about  half  that  amount." 

' '  The  features  of  the  Grand  Gulf  group  in  Louisiana  are  almost 
absolutely  identical  with  those  prevailing  in  Mississippi."  Hil- 
gard  still  maintains  the  necessity  of  a  "  temporary  cutting  off  of 
the  Mexican  Gulf  from  the  Atlantic  to  account  for  the  existence 
of  the  Grand  Gulf  strata."  He  calls  attention  to  the  building 
stone,  potter's  clay,  and  a  "  fine  white  and  exceedingly  refrac- 
tory, semi-indurate  white  pipe-clay,  occurring  near  the  edge  of 
the  Vicksburg  rocks  in  Catahoula  parish."  To  the  Vicksburg 
group,  Hilgard  refers  practically  all  the  marine  Tertiary  of  the 
State.  The  only  exception  is  the  locality  of  the  Zeuglodon  on 
the  Ouachita. 

For  the  lignitiferous  beds  in  northern  Louisiana  he  proposes 
the  name  of  Mansfield  group  and  correlates  them  with  the  lower 
portions  of  the  Vick-sburg  bluff. 

In  discussing  the  "  Salines  of  Northern  Louisiana"  Hilgard 
refers  to  the  method  of  obtaining  brine  by  sinking  shallow  wells 
15  or  20  feet  deep,  sometimes  by  drilling  deeper  wells,  even  iioo 
feet  and  occasionally  obtaining  an  artesian  supply  of  brine.  The 
records  of  these  borings  are  unfortunate!}-  lost.  "  But  in  one 
case  at  least  the  pile  of  borings,  in  others  tradition  testifies  that 
calcareous  or  gypseous  materials  were  met  with  all  the  wa^-  down. 
This  fact,  coupled  with  the  lithological  character  of  the  latter 
(which  is  foreign  to  all  the  Tertiary  groups  known  to  me)  and  the 
'find'  of  several  individuals  of  Exogyra  costata  and  G?yphtza 
pitcheri  in  the  rubbish  of  one  pit,  suggests  that  here  we  have 
not  local  Tertiary  basins,  but  rather  the  peaks  of  a  Cretaceous 
ridge,  projecting  through  the  lignitic  Tertiary." 

In  this  report,  as  stated  above,  Hilgard  describes  the  artesian 
wells  of  Calcasieu.  They  "  are  located  on  two  small  islands  in 
the  (fresh  water)  marsh  which  forms  the  head  of  the  bayou 
Choupique,"  a  small  tributary  of  the  Calcasieu  river. 

At  the  time  of   Hilgard's  visit  the   well  being  sunk  by   the 


I] 


Historical   Review  :    Second   Part 


25 


Kirkman's  Well 


Depth 


450 


Thick- 
ness 


Ft. 
354 


96 


Blue  and  yel- 
low clay  some 
sand  strata 


■■-A       ^^ 


Sandy  pipe- 
clay, 4  ft. 


Louisiana  Oil  Co.'s  Well 


Depth 


160 


333 


343 


583 


443 


543 


690 


Thick- 
ness 


Ft. 
160 


Materials 


Blue  clay, 

sometimes 

with  layers  of 

sand  soaked 

with 

petroleum 


173 


Loose  sand 

and  gravel,  138 

to  153  ft. very 

pebbly; 153  to 

173  ft.  finer 

material 


Gray  lami- 
nated clay 
( "soapstone" 


40 


60 


147 


540 


Blue,  sandy, 
nodular  lime- 
stone, with 
marine  shells 
Petroleum 
and  gas 


Soft,  white, 
crystalline, 
crumbling 
limestone; 
tube  driven 
through 


Pure 

crystalline 

sulphur 


Sulphur  and 

gypsum, 
alternating 

About 
^  sulphur.  5ft. 
Sulphur  bed 

at  650  ft. 

10-15  ft.  bed 

at   680  ft. 


Pure  gypsum 
Dense,  gran- 
ular and 
coarsely  crys- 
talline, gray- 
ish or  white 


Formations 


Port 
Hudson 
Group 


Orange 

Sand 

Group 


Vicksburg 


Group 


Cretaceous 


Formation 


26  Geological   Survev   of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

Louisiana  Petroleum  and  Coal  Oil  Co.  had  reached  a  depth  of 
1,230  feet  and  Dr.  Kirkman's  well  was  450  feet  deep.  Hilgard 
interprets  and  correlates  the  two  as  .shown  on  p.  25. 

Hilgard  read  before  the  Tro}^  meeting  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation 1869,  a  paper  "On  the  Geology  of  the  Delta  and  the 
Mud-lumps  of  the  Passes  of  the  Mississippi.*  Concerning  the 
delta  plain  as  a  whole  he  believes  that  the  river  deposits  cover  it 
to  but  a  "  comparatively  insignificant  depth. 'f  He  has  found 
the  Orange  sand  beds  in  the  Calcasieu  well  about  100  feet  in 
thickness,  lying  below  a  350  feet  stratum  of  Port  Hudson.  The 
latter  beds  are  found  to  resemble  those  in  the  New  Orleans  well, 
extending  to  a  depth  of  630  feet.  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  intima- 
tion that  the  beds  were  for  the  most  part  of  a  delta  formation 
is  again  questioned  and  proven  false  by  the  microscopic  and 
macroscopic  fossils  of  marine  origin  found  in  them. 

The  alluvium  about  New  Orleans  varies  usuall}-  from  31  to  56 
feet  in  thickness  beneath  which  or  at  the  base  of  which  is  a 
stratum  of  mud  in  which  combustible  gas  is  frequently  found. 
This  is  of  indifferent  quality  as  shown  by  analysis  (p.  245). 
Accompanying  this  flow  of  gas  are  streams  of  water  and  mud 
making  artificial  mud-lumps  of  sometimes  considerable  dimen- 
sions (p.  368).  The  question  of  mud-lumps  is  taken  up  and 
figures  illustrating  their  growth  and  decay  are  given  (pp.  356- 
368).  Their  origin  is  discussed  at  length  (pp.  425-435)  and 
analyses  of  waters  given. 

In  Hilgard's  report  on  the  material  obtained  from  the  New 
Orleans  well  (bored  1856)  published  in  i8-jo,l  he  maintains  that 
the  distribution  and  kind  of  molluscan  species  identified  show 
that  at  least  the  lower  510  feet  of  the  well  (630  feet  deep)  belongs 
to  one  and  the  same  formation.  It  is  not  a  delta  deposit.  It  is 
the  Port  Hudson  formation.  A  carefully  drawn  section  of  the 
well  accompanies  this  report. 

Before  the  American  Association  in  187 1,  Hilgard  read  a  paper 
"  On  the  Geological  History  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico."*  In  this 
paper  a  Cretaceous   "  backbone  "  (p.  393)  is  said  to  pass  through 

*See  Am.  Jour.    Sci.,  vol.  i,  1870,  pp.   238-246,  356-368,  425-435- 

t  Ibid  p.  239. 

X  Rept.  Chief  Eng.,  1870,  pp.  352-361. 

*Ain.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  2,  1871,  pp.  391-404. 


I]  Historical   Review  :  Second  Period  27 

the  State  in  a  northerly  and  northwesterly  direction  and  on  either 
side  there  is  a  dipping  of  the  strata  away  from  the  axis  toward 
the  Mississippi  on  the  east  side  and  westerly  or  southwesterly  on 
the  west  side.  The  "  Northern  Lignitic  "  is  correlated  with  the 
Buhrstone  of  the  states  east  of  the  Mississippi  (p.  394).  He  is 
led  to  make  this  mistake  on  account  of  supposing  that  the  now 
well  known  Midway  Eocene  beds  in  west  Tennesee  lying  immedi- 
ately upon  the  Cretaceous,  were  of  Lower  Claiborne  age.  Hence 
the  intervening  Lignitic  beds  should  probably  be  of  the  same 
age.  The  Cretaceous  backbone  is  held  responsible  for  causing 
the  extremely  lignitic  character  of  the  formations  of  north 
Louisiana  (p.  396).  The  barrenness  of  the  Grand  Gulf  beds  is 
attributed  to  some  exclusion  of  the  waters  in  which  they  were 
being  deposited  from  the  sea  (p.  348).  The  calcareous  concre- 
tions found  near  the  base  of  this  formation  may  have  been 
derived  from  organic  remains.  The  Port  Hudson  beds  underlie 
the  Mississippi  alluvium  up  as  far  as  Memphis,  and  the  Red  river 
as  far  as  Shreveport  (p.  401). 

The  Smithsonian  memoir  by  Hilgard  on  the  "Geology  of  Lower 
Louisiana  and  the  Rock  salt  of  Petite  Anse*  published  in  1872 
is  a  more  complete  statement  of  the  first  article  on  the  subject  pub- 
lished in  the  American  Journal  of  Science  in  1869.  He  describes 
the  Port  Hudson  section  and  gives  a  detailed  description  of  each 
of  the  Five  Islands.  In  this  article  he  takes  the  view  that  the  Five 
Islands  are  but  the  erosion-formed  outliers  of  a  Cretaceous  ridge 
or  backbone  which  traverses  Louisiana  from  the  northwest  cor- 
ner in  the  direction  of  Vermillion  ba^'  ;  the  salt  being  of  Creta- 
ceous rather  than  early  Quaternary  age.  He  thinks  that  at  the 
beginning  of  Tertiarj-  time  the  existence  of  the  axis  of  elevation 
was  marked  merely  by  a  number  of  disconnected  islands.  In 
later  geological  time  the  lower  five  outcrops  were  buried  under 
deposits  of  Orange  Sand  and  Port  Hudson  material,  as  indeed 
was  the  whole  Mississippi  valley,  and  in  the  re-excavation  of 
the  valley  by  the  Mississippi  river  the  material  covering  the 
Cretaceous  nuceli  was  not  eroded  so  much  as  the  surrounding 
country,  thus  forming  the  islands. 


*Smith.  Contributions,  vol.  23,  No.  248,  32  pp. 


28 


Geological  Survey   of    Louisiana 


[Sect. 


Hilgard's  Profile  of  Bluff  at  Sabinetown,  Texas 


No. 
14 

Materials  and  Character 

Feet 

Formation 

Ferruginous  sandstone,    and  conglomerate  of 
pebbles  with  fragments  of  silicified  wood .  . 

6 

Drift 

13 

Ferruginous  sand,    of    the   usual  Drift  facias, 
with   two  or   there    ledges    of    ferruginotis 
sandstone 

18 

12 

Yellow  and  variegated  sand,  with  clay  laminae 
interspersed 

6 

Mansfield 

Lignitic 

(Foot  of 

Vicksburg 

Bluff) 

II 

Grey  or  brownish  laminated  clay  wnth  yellow 
(ochreous)  cleavage  planes,  and  a  few  sandy 
layers 

25 

ID 

Yellow  and  variegated  sand,  with  clay  bands  at 
intervals  of  about  twenty  inches 

30 

9 

Grey  laminated  clay  with  Selenite,  and  ferrugi- 
nous  stratification  lines  at  intervals  of  ten 
inches 

12 

8 

Greenish  ferruginous  sand  with  clay  laminse. 

3 

Jackson 
(Marine) 

7 

Ferruginous,  concretionary  sandstone,  porous, 
fossiliferous 

3 

6 

Solid  blue  sandy  clay 

3 

5 

Brown    laminated  clay 

I 

4 

Blue  fossiliferous  limestone,  sandy,  with  Ros- 
tellaria   velata '. 

2 

3 

Greenish  sand,  alternating  with  clay  laminae. . 

6 

2 

Blue  calcareous  sandstone,  fossiliferous 

2 

I 

Greenish  sand,  as  far  as  visible 

2 

I]  Historical   Review  :   Second   Period  29 

In  1873  Hilgard  published  a  "Supplementary  and  Final 
Report  of  a  Geological  Reconnaissance  of  the  State  of  Louisiana. ' ' 
It  is  a  large  octavo  phamphlet  of  44  pages,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  the  most  complete  statement  of  the  geology  of  the  State 
heretofore  published.  No  brief  review  can  give  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  contents  of  this  work.  It  should  be  consulted  by 
any  and  all  who  care  to  become  familiar  with  the  geology  of  the 
State.  It  gives  soil  analyses,  topographic,  geologic,  vegetation 
and  other  characteristics  of  the  regions  traversed  en  route  as  out- 
lined in  his  previous  report. 

On  the  preceding  page  Hilgard's  section  at  Sabinetown,  Tex. 
is  given. 

"  At  the  foot  of  the  bluff,  where  at  high  stages  of  water  it  is 
difficult  to  find  passage,  it  is  lined  with  blocks  of  dark  colored 
rock,  tumbled  from  above.  These  are  mostly  derived  from 
No.  7  of  the  section,  a  porous,  concretionary,  ferruginous  sand- 
stone, with  casts  of  fossils,  now  unrecognizable.  There  are 
besides,  blocks  of  hard,  limy  sandstone  or  sandy  limestone 
derived  from  No's.  2  and  4.  The  former  is  generally  poor  in 
fossils,  the  latter  in  places  very  rich,  and  the  fossils  well 
preserved,  but  very  difficult  to  detach  from  the  rock.  Among 
them,  a  small  variety  of  Rostellaria  velala  is  the  only  fossil 
usually  characterizing  the  Jackson  group.  But  this,  at  the  time 
of  my  visit,  I  failed  to  identify,  and  was  inclined  to  consider  the 
fauna  found  here  more  nearly  related  to  the  Vicksburg  than  to 
the  Jackson  group.  But  at  a  subsequent  visit  Prof.  Hopkins 
found  on  a  tributary  entering  the  Sabine  just  above  the  ferry,  a 
bed  of  shells  bearing  most  distinctly  the  Jackson  character. 
While  it  is  thus  proven  that  the  lower  (marine)  portion  of  this 
profile  is  of  the  latter  age,  the  upper  (lignitic)  part  is  thereby 
parallelized  to  the  lower  division  of  the  Vicksburg  bluff,  to 
which  it  bears  a  close  lithological  resemblnace.  And  if  we  define 
the  area  actually  underlaid  here  by  the  Vicksburg  marine  rocks 
proper,  we  cannot  assign  to  it,  on  an  average,  a  width  greater 
than  about  three  miles  in  a  northwest  and  southeast  direction." 
We  are  quite  at  a  loss  to  know  what  shells  Dr.  Hopkins  could 
have  found  here  that  would  have  a  "  most  distinctly  "  Jackson 
character  for  they  are  purely  upper  Lignitic  species  as  will  be 
shown  later  on  in  this  report.     Moreover,  Hilgard  is  still  misled 


30  Geological    Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

regarding  the  Vicksburg  outcroppings  by  the  little  orbitolite 
specimens  in  the  Lower  Claiborne  which  he  takes  to  be  Orbitoides 
mantelli.  The  salt  works  in  Northern  Louisiana  are  well 
described,  likewise  the  so-called  marble  and  limestones.  The 
Grand  Gulf  beds  at  Harrisonburg  are  well  described.  In  the 
recapitulation  he  gives  again  the  Calcasieu  wells. 

In  1874,  Hilgard  published  a  "  Note  on  Lignite  Beds  and 
Their  Under-Clays  "  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science.*  In 
the  course  of  this  note  he  says  :  "  The  cause  of  this  complete 
obliteration  of  spongy  roots  or  spongy  parts  of  roots  is  doubtless 
to  be  sought  in  the  oxidizing  influence  of  ferruginous  solutions 
percolating  from  above,  and  the  subsequent  action  of  pressure 
on  the  yielding  mass."  *  *  *  "That  another  phase  of  the 
same  agencies  has  been  instrumental  in  obliterating  the  teeming 
fauna  of  the  Port  Hudson  beds,  whose  character  can  now  be 
studied  only  in  a  few  limited  localities,  I  have  already  shown 
(Smith.  Contr.  Knowl.,  No.  248,  p.  12).  And  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  absolute  dearth  of  organic  remains  which  has 
thus  far  frustrated  all  vt\y  attempts  to  gain  a  definite  clue  to  the 
age  of  the  Grand  Gulf  beds  of  the  Gulf  border,  is  largely  due 
to  the  same  cause,  and  not  to  the  conversion  of  the  Mexico  Gulf 
into  a  dead  sea  during  the  Post-Eocene  Tertiary  period." 

In  arguing  against  the  aeolian  origin  of  the  Loess,  Hilgard 
statesf  that  in  Louisiana  representative  deposits  are  quite  dis- 
tinctly stratified. 

In  1 88 1,  Hilgard  contributed  an  article  on  "  the  Later  Tertiary 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico"  to  the  American  Journal  of  Science.! 
This  article  is  inspired  by  the  recent  publication  of  the  Coast 
Survey  charf'Soundings  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico"  and  the  observa- 
tions of  Smith  on  the  geology  of  Florida. 

On  his  map  the  northern  edge  of  the  Grand  Gulf  formation  is 
made  to  curve  around  in  Alabama  and  "  run  out  "  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  at  about  the  western  extremity  of  Florida.  It  thus 
seems    to  have  some   relationship    to    the    abrupt    descent    in 


*Vol.  7,  pp.  208-210. 

fAm.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  18,  1879,  p.  107. 

X^ol.  22,  pp.  58-65,  map. 


I]  Historical   Review  :    Second   Period  31 

the  bottom   of  the   Gulf  not  far   to  the  east  and  southeast  of 
Pensacola. 

The  shelf  along  the  northern  coast  of  the  Gulf,  in  case  the 
bottom  were  raised  450  feet  would  be  converted  into  a  shallow 
water  strip  in  which  both  fresh  water  and  marine  animals  could 
have  no  safe  footing.  Add  to  this  the  partial  closing  of  the 
Florida  Straits  and  the  Yucatan  Channel  and  the  whole  Gulf 
would  have  become  inhospitable  for  its  marine  denizens. 

The  first  report  on  the  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States 
published  in  1883  contains  an  article  by  Dr.  Hilgard  on  the 
Salines  of  Louisiana.*  It  contains  a  complete  restatement  of 
the  information  regarding  the  northern  salines  published  in  his 
earlier  articles  and  much  additional  data  on  the  mining  opera- 
tions on  Petite  Anse. 

In  the  Report  on  Cotton  Production  in  the  United  Statesf, 
part  I,  page  iii,  ei  seg.,  Hilgard  gives  a  brief  summarj' of  the 
geological  features  of  the  State,  including  however  no  new  geo- 
logical facts.  The  soils  of  the  State  are  discussed  with  care,  and 
many  exhaustive  analyses  of  the  same  are  given. 

In  1885  another  article  was  contributed  b}'  Hilgard,  entitled, 
"  The  Classification  and  Paleontology  of  the  United  States  Ter- 
tiary Deposits. "J  This  article  was  inspired  by  the  peculiar 
stratigraphy  of  O.  Meyer  and  the  answer  b\'  Heilprin.  Hilgard 
does  not  believe  in  Meyer's  stratigraph}'.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
fully  sympathizes  with  Meyer  in  considering  many  of  Conrad's 
species  as  spurious  or  as  varieties  only  ;  states  he  gave  up  send- 
ing Conrad  material  because  the  latter  would  describe  all  varieties 
as  species  nova.  Again  and  finally  :  "I  doubt  if  there  exists  a 
finer  opportunity  for  observing  the  evolution  of  marine  species 
in  Tertiar}^  times  than  is  presented  by  the  minutely  differentiated 
formations  of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana." 

About  simultaneously  another  article  appeared  from  Hilgard's 
pen  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  on  The  Old  Tertiary  of 
the  Southwest.  "§  He  disposes  of  Meyer's  ridiculous  stratigraphy 
in  trans-Mississippi  deposits,   and  adds:    "But,  outside  of  the 


*Pp.  554-565- 

f47th  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  House  Mis.  Doc,  No.  42,  part  5,  1884. 

^Science,  vol.  6,  p.  44. 

§Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  30,  pp.  266-269. 


32  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

State  of  Mississippi,  I  can  satisfy  Dr.  Meyer's  postulate  of  'seeing 
Vicksburg  rocks  actually  superimposed  upon  the  Jackson  strata.' 
I  have  seen  this  in  Louisiana  on  the  Bayou  Funne  Louis,  where 
I  have  stood  on  a  ledge  of  Vicksburg  limestone  showing  a  south- 
ward dip  and  containing  abundance  of  Orbitoides,  Area  missis- 
sippiensis  and  Pecten  poiilso?ii,  looking  down  upon  a  level  prairie 
country  in  which  the  bones  of  the  Zetiglodon  have  J^een  plowed 
up." 

In  1887  Hilgard  contributed  to  Science*,  an  article  entitled, 
"The  Equivalence  in  Time  of  American  Marine  and  Intra-con- 
tinental  Terranes."  Herein  the  following  significant  passage 
occurs  :  ' '  The  striking  increase  of  the  lignitiferous  facies 
toward  the  northwestern  border  of  the  Gulf  Tertiary  area,  culmi- 
nating in  the  appearance  of  bands  of  fresh-water  limestone  at 
Mansfield  and  northwestward  ;  the  fan-like  expanse  in  Arkansas 
and  Louisiana  of  the  older  portion  of  the  narrow  bands  formed 
by  the  marine  stages  in  Mississippi  and  Alabama  with  a  mani- 
fest northwestern  trend  of  such  deposits  as  are  continuoslj^ 
traceable  in  northwestern  Louisiana,  while  the  later  stages  are 
abruptly  deflected  to  the  southwest,  all  points  to  a  rapidl}'  pro- 
gressing elevation  of  the  axial  Cretaceous  trough  that  may  or 
may  not  have  completel}' .  separated  the  interior  from  the  gulf 
waters  before  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  period." 

Hopkins. — In  1869  Dr.  F.  V.  Hopkins  made  three  geological 
trips  in  northern  Louisiana  and  submitted  his  first  annual  report 
on  the  region  covered  late  in  the  same  year.  In  this  report  he 
reviewed  the  different  geological  formations  occurring  in  the 
State  from  the  oldest  or  Cretaceous  to  the  most  recent  or  allu- 
vial formation. 

His  ideas  of  the  stratigraphy  of  the  State  along  a  line  "passing 
north  through  the  Cretaceous  outcrop  in  Winn  and  then  turning 
a  little  southeast  to  intersect  the  St.  Landry  limestone,  and  the 
islands  in  the  sea-marsh,"  is  shown  in  the  following  figure  : 

*VoL  9,  p.  535>  1887. 


Historical  Review  :    Second  Period  33 


■  iRir    ■.;.■".•.■■.  ,■        -^-i--^-^.^^ 

iiiiiiiiiiiw 

MANSFIELD  GROUPji^ 

0 
'00 

(!) 

CRETACEOUS 

t 

_l 

^=^=0=52 


Fig.  I.  —  Transverse  section  of  Louisiana.  After  Hopkins. 
The  Cretaceous  is  said  to  rise  to  the  surface  in  but  few  locali- 
ties. One  is  on  Dugdamona  bayou,  S.  35,  12  N.,  3  W. 
Another  is  in  St.  Landry  about  seven  miles  west  of  Chicot. 
Other  Cretaceous  rocks  have  been  met  with  in  wells,  around 
Drake's  salt-works,  King's  salt-works,  and  in  the  sulphur  well 
at  Calcasieu. 

The   well    section   at    Calcasieu    he   gives    from    information 
obtained  from  a  Mr.  Munu,  as  follows  : 

Prairie  Diluvium,     i.   160  feet  blue  clay,  layers  of  sand. 

Drift 2.   173  feet  sand. 

Grand  Gulf 3.     10  feet  clay  rock  "soapstone." 

Vicksburg 4.     40  feet  blue  anthraconitic,  limestone,  fissured, 

f  5.     60  feet  gray  limestone. 

I  6.   ICO  feet  pure  crystalline  sulphur. 

Cretaceous -{7.   137  feet  gypsum,  with  sulphur. 

I  8.  10  feet  sulphur. 
1^9.  540  feet  gypsum,  gra)'ish  blue. 
He  is  led  to  believe  that  :  "  The  sulphur  was  formed  by  reduc- 
ing the  gypsum  with  vegetable  matter.  The  carbonic  acid, 
olefiant  gas  and  the  marsh  gas  produced  by  the  process,  have 
each  left  the  proof  its  presence,  i.  <?.,  the  limestone  stratum  No. 
5  contains  the  former,  the  petroleum  is  made  from  the  olefiant 
gas,"  and  the  small  low  mounds  of  that  and  other  regions  were 
formed  by  the  escaping  of  these  gases. 

The  Mansfield  group  is  discussed  lithologically,  geographically 
and  paleontologically.  A  hundred  foot  section  is  given  near 
Columbia.  Sections  at  Coal-bluff,  on  the  Chickasaw  creek,  and 
at  Grande  Ecore,  on  Red  river,  are  given  in  detail,  with  others. 
At  Spring  Bank,  in  Arkansas, eight  miles  above  the  State  line, 
a  fine  exposure  occurs  containing  a  sufficiently  large  amount  of 
iron  ore  to  "almost  justifj- the  establishment  of  a  furnace."  (p. 89.) 
c 


34  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

The  Jackson  group  is  next  taken  up  and  traced  from  Grand- 
view,  on  the  Ouachita,  to  Montgomery,  on  the  Red.  The  latter 
locality,  the  most  important  Jackson  deposit  in  the  State,  was 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  scientific  world  by  the  transmis- 
sion to  the  State  Military  Academy  of  a  vertebra  of  Zetiglodon 
by  Judge  A.  V.  Ragan,  the  owner  of  the  bluff  and  plantation. 
He  notes  (p.  94)  the  occurrence  of  Orbitoides  mantelli,  a  typical 
Vicksburg  species,  in  the  Jackson  beds  at  this  locality.  Many 
of  the  more  important  Lower  Claiborne  localities,  as  known 
to-day,  were  visited  by  Hopkins  and  referred  to  the  Jackson 
period. 

The  "Vicksburg  formation  "  he  traces  from  "near  the  Oua- 
chita to  nineteen  miles  southwest  of  Natchitoches  "  including 
much  that  is  now  known  to  be  Lower  Claiborne. 

The  Grand  Gulf  is  then  taken  up  and  its  characters,  extent, 
out-crops,  etc.,  given.  Sections  are  given  at  Harrisonburg, 
Chalk  hills  and  Alexandria. 

The  deposits  of  the  "Drift  Period"  are  then  discussed  as 
regards  geographical  distribution.  He  makes  the  following  gen- 
eral statements:  "The  country  covered  by  the  drift,  i.  e.,  the 
areas  of  the  Grand  Gulf,  much  of  the  Jackson  and  Vicksburg, 
and  almost  all  of  the  Mansfield  groups,  comprises  the  upland 
region  of  the  State.  It  is,  in  general,  broken  and  hilly,  the 
height  of  the  hills  depending  principally  on  the  underlying  Ter- 
tiary strata.  The  highest  are  on  the  territory  of  the  Mansfield 
group,  between  Shreveport  and  Monroe  ;  but  the  Harrisonburg, 
Cloutierville  and  Kisatche  hills  are  of  Grand  Gulf  age,  as  we 
have  seen  already.  The  intervening  region  of  the  Jackson  and 
Vicksburg  are  lower,  and  are  often  entirely  bare  of  the  drift,  as 
is  the  case  also  with  the  marl)^  regions  of  the  Grand  Gulf.  Per- 
haps the  presence  of  lime  in  the  soil  renders  it  more  penetrable 
by  water  and  therefore  more  subject  to  denudation,  so  that  an 
oceanic  current  carrying  detritus,  would  deposit  it  most  heavily 
where  there  was  the  least  lime.  Whatever  the  explanation  may 
be,  this  appears  to  have  been  the  fact." 

Hopkin's  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
Louisiana  was  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  late  in  1870 
and  published  in  1871.     It  is  accompanied  by  a  colored  map  of 


I]  Historical  Review  :   Second  Period  35 

the  State,  the  first  and  only  geological  state  map  thus  far  pub- 
lished. He  correlates  the  "Mansfield  group"  with  the  marine 
Jackson,  regarding  their  difference  in  appearance  as  due  to  local 
conditions  in  deposition  instead  of  difference  in  time  of  deposit. 

The  Claiborne  stage  is  still  unidentified  in  the  State  ;  all 
localities  now  known  to  belong  to  the  Lower  Claiborne  are  here 
referred  to  the  Jackson  or  Vicksburg  stages.  A  long  list  of 
Jackson  fossils  is  given,  likewise  a  less  exhaustive  one  of  the 
Vicksburg. 

This  report  cannot  be  regarded  as  more  than  a  restatement  of 
the  more  important  facts  of  the  first  with  some  additions  and 
corrections  as  noted  above. 

The  third  Annual  Report  of  Dr.  Hopkins  is  devoted  almost 
entirely  to  a  discussion  of  the  newer  formations  from  the  ' '  Drift, ' ' 
(now  called  the  Lafayette)  upwards.  In  this  report  he  departs 
from  the  view  which  he  has  heretofore  advocated  of  the  com- 
paratively slight  thickness  of  the  alluvium  of  the  Mississippi 
valley.  He  says:  "  The  professor  [Hilgard]  therein  takes  the 
view  that  the  alluvium  proper  beneath  New  Orleans  is  but 
thirty-one  feet  thick,  arguing  that  the  marine  deposits  below  are 
of  the  Port  Hudson  group.  I  followed  him  last  year  in  this 
idea,  and  quoted  his  list  of  shells  under  the  head  of  the  Bluff 
formation.  My  observations  this  season  oblige  me  to  modify 
this  conclusion  somewhat.  Wishing  to  ascertain  as  accurately 
as  possible  the  actual  depth  of  the  alluvium,  I  instituted  a  series 
of  experiments  upon  the  water  of  wells  dug  in  the  Port  Hudson 
formation  and  in  the  bottom  lands,  respectively.  I  have  found 
(as  indeed.  Professor  Hilgard  had  told  me  that  he  should  expect) 
that  the  former  contain  a  considerable  proportion  of  sulphates 
and  carbonates,  while  the  latter  show  an  excess  of  chlorides. 
This  result  is  uniform,  excepting  where  the  wells  happen  to 
strike  considerable  beds  of  sand,  when  the  waters  are  too  pure  to 
be  distinguished.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  by  testing  the 
water  of  the  deepest  wells  dug  in  the  alluvium,  it  is  possible  to 
tell  whether  they  pass  through  it  into  the  underlying  Port 
Hudson  group  or  not.  The  patent  wells  that  are  made  by 
simply  driving  a  tube  into  the  ground,  offer  great  facilities  for 
this  research,  as  the  water  that  they  furnish  comes  necessarily 


36  Geological  Survey  of  Loulsiana  [Sect. 

from  the  bottom  of  the  well  only.  On  a  trip  that  I  made  from 
Baton  Rouge  to  the  Arkansas  line,  I  analyzed  the  water  of  various 
wells  from  seventy  to  one  hundred  feet  in  depth,  and  in  not  a  sin- 
gle instance  found  any  other  than  the  alluvial  characteristics."* 

He  discusses  at  length  the  Bluff  formation  under  which  he 
includes  the  Port  Hudson,  the  loess  and  the  Yellow  loam  and 
gives  the  results  of  field  work  in  East  Baton  Rouge,  East  and 
West  Feliciana, Tensas,  Madison,  Carroll,  Moorehouse, Ouachita, 
Richland,  Franklin,  Catahoula,  Rapides,  Avoyelles  and  Pointe 
Coupe  parishes.  He  describes  and  gives  sections  in  Bayou 
Macon  hills,  at  Catahoula  lake,  in  the  Tunica  hills,  at  St. 
Fraucisville,  at  Port  Hudson  and  near  Baton  Rouge. 

In  the  Tunica  hills  he  records  the  unusual  thickness  of  150 
feet  for  the  loess  and  on  Red  river  connects  the  upland  terraces 
with  the  Port  Hudson  material  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  He 
gives  an  extensive  list  of  Palaeozoic  fossils  which  have  been 
identified  from  the  "  drift  gravels,"  and  is  inclined  to  regard  the 
gravels,  as  having  been  formed  in  Quaternary  time  by  an  arctic 
current  flowing  from  Hudson  bay. 

To  this  discussion  is  appended  a  brief  account  of  the  forma- 
tions exhibited  on  the  geological  map. 

Edzcards  — In  1870  A.  M.  Edwards  reported  on  the  "  Results 
of  a  Microscopical  Examination  of  Specimens  of  Sand  obtained 
from  an  Artesian  Well  at  New  Orleans."  At  the  depth  §  of 
32  feet  he  found  sand,  light  grayish  with  fine  specks  of  organic 
material.  This  is  the  gas  bearing  stratum.  At  49  feet  sharp 
sand  consisting  of  clear  transparent  quartz  with  black  organic 
specks  and  a  few  comminuted  moUusks.  At  52^  feet  somewhat 
the  same  as  above  but  darker.  At  71  feet  fine  sea  bottom 
deposits  with  many  sea-shells.  The  Diatomacece  are  the  same 
species  as  those  found  living  on  the  coast  of  Florida  and 
South  Carolina. 

Hayes. — An  analysis  of  lignite  derived  from  a  locality  two 
miles  below  Shreveport  was  made  in    1874  by  S.   Dana  Hayes, ;j; 


*  Third  Annual  Report   Geol.    Surv.  of  La.,   An.    Kept.   Supt.   La.  State 
Univ.  for  187  r,  p.    168,  1872. 
^5  An.   Lye    Nat    Hist    New  York,  vol.  9,  pp.  329-33. 
X  Chemical  News, vol    30,  pp.  153-154. 


I]  Historical  Review  :    First  Period  37 

State  Assayist  of  Massachusetts.  This  author  adds:  "This 
lignite  has  a  specific  gravity  of  1.143,  it  is  nearly  black  in  color, 
and  its  lignitic  structure  is  not  so  distinct  as  usual ;  but  it  dis- 
solves completely  in  caustic  soda  solution." 

Forshey. — In  1875  C.  G.  Forshey,  Assistant  Engineer,  pub- 
lished a  "  Report  of  Survey  and  Borings  Made  at  the  Proposed 
Site  of  the  Lake  Borgne  Outlet."*  He  finds  that  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi  slope  rapidly  back  towards  the  lake  and  reach 
the  level  of  the  swamp  land  at  a  distance  of  from  3,000  .to  4,000 
feet.  He  reports  14  soundings  made  by  auger  and  casing  pipe  to 
depths  of  from  70  to  100  feet.  The  mollusks  obtained  from  the 
wells  were  submitted  to  Prof.  Carpenter  of  Montreal  and  found 
to  belong  to  species  now  living  in  Florida  waters.  Violent 
eruptions  of  hydrogen  gas  sometimes  brought  up  shells  and  mud 
from  depths  of  60  to  70  feet.  The  gas  burns  with  a  reddish 
flame.  He  notes  the  similarity  of  these  phenomena  to  those 
seen  at  the  mud-lumps  of  the  Mississippi. 

Gabb. — From  his  studies  in  the  West  Indies  and  Costa  Rica 
Gabb  concludes!  that  instead  of  being  shut  off  from  the  sea  in 
Miocene  times,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  was  less  isolated  than  now 
since  the  marine  Miocene  deposits  on  these  islands  and  shores 
prove  the  islands  were  then  much  below  the  present  level. 

Johnso7i. — In  1885,  L.  C.  Johnson  was  directed  by  the  U.  S. 
Geological  Survey  to  investigate  the  iron  ores  of  I,ouisiana. 
In  1886  he  was  requested  to  extend  his  researches  into  the 
northeastern  counties  of  Texas. 

The  results  of  these  investigations  are  embodied  in  a  report 
published  in  1888,  as  House  Ex.  Doc.  No.  195,  50th  Cong,  ist 
Session  and  styled  "The  Iron  Regions  of  Northern  Louisiana 
and  Eastern  Texas." 

He  published  a  map  showing  the  distribution  of  the  ores  and 
gave  figures  in  the  text  illustrating  characteristic  or  important 
exposures.  In  the  matter  of  stratigraphy  he  followed  Hilgard 
closely.  He  has  nothing  new  to  offer  on  the  age  of  the  Mansfield 
group.     He  did,  however,  collect  fossils  from  several  important 

*  44tli  Cong.  1st  vSess.  Rept.  Sec.  War.  Eng.  Rept.  vol.  2,  pt.  i,  pp. 
622-629. 

t  Amer.  Jour    Sci.,  vol.  9,  1875.  P-  3^o. 


38  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

localities,  and  Aldrich,  who  studied  them,  was  enabled  to 
correct  some  erroneous  correlations  made  before  Johnson's 
work  ;  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  now  has  these  considerable 
collections.     He  found  several  new  localities  for  fossils. 

His  conclusions  on  the  iron  ore  of  the  State  will  be  found  later 
on  in  this  report. 

"  The  Nita  Crevasse  "  is  the  title  of  a  brief  article  by  Johnson 
in  the  Geol.  Soc.  Amer.  Bulletin  for  1891.*  He  states  among 
other  things  that  there  was  a  period  when  the  Mississippi 
embouched  at  Manchac.  The  Pontchartrain  clays  were  then 
deposited.  These  extend  up  to  the  loess  and  are  the  equivalents 
of  the  Port  Hudson  beds. 

Knowllon. — The  Proceedings  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum, 
vol.  II, t  contains  a  note  by  Knowlton  describing  two  species  of 
fossil  wood  from  Rapides  parish,  La.  They  were  collected  by 
L.  C.  Johnson  in  1886.  Johnson  called  them  Pliocene  ;  McGee 
says  they  are  of  Grand  Gulf  age  ;  Knowlton  thinks  the  age  very 
uncertain.  They  are  Palms  called  Pabnoxylon  quenstcdti  and  P. 
cellidosiun. 

Elsewhere  in  the  same  volume  (p.  11  etseq.)  Knowlton  has  pre- 
pared for  publication  some  of  Lesquereux's  species  from  Camp- 
bell's quarry,  Cross  lake  and  from  McLee's,  two  miles  north  of 
Mansfield.      (See  especially  pp.  24-25.) 

Lcidy. —In  1884  Joseph  Leidy  made  a  short  communication  to 
the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  on  Fossil  bones 
received  from  Petite  Anse.|  This  was  followed  by  a  detailed 
report  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Wagner  Free  Insti- 
tute of  Science  in  1889.  In  this  he  mentions  Mastodon  ameri- 
canus,  Mylodoji  harlaiii  (?)  Owen  and  Eqiius  major  DeKay  as 
occuring  at  this  locality. § 


*  Vol.  2,  pp.  20-25,  1891. 

t  Pp.  89-91,  pi.  XXX,  1888. 

X  Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,vol.  26,  p.  22,  1884. 

§  Trans.  Wagner  Free  Inst.  Sci.,  vol.  2,  pp.  33-40,  1889. 


I]  Historical  Review  :  Third  Period  39 

Third  Period. 
Period  of  Work    under   the   Direction   of  Experiment  Station. 

Lcrch. — Dr.  Otto  Lerch  spent  from  March  i  to  May  18,  1892, 
in  the  study  of  the  geology  of  Northern  Louisiana.  His  report, 
which  appeared  the  same  year,  was  entitled  "A  Preliminary 
Report  upon  the  Hills  of  Louisiana,  north  of  Vicksburg,  Shreve- 
port  and  Pacific  Railroad."  It  consisted  of  52  8vo.  pages,  and 
was  illustrated  by  figures  in  the  text. 

The  work  of  this  brief  period  was  mainly  confined  to  localities 
along  the  line  of  the  V.  S.  and  P.  R.  R.  He  visited  Rayburn's 
salt  works,  however,  and  was  the  first  to  note  Cretaceous  fossils 
at  that  locality.  He  gives  a  good  description  of  the  old  works, 
including  a  figure  showing  his  idea  of  the  stratigraphy  of  the 
region. 

A  long  section  (opp.  p.  22  of  his  report)  shows  his  conception 
of  the  Eocene  stratigraphy  of  N.  Louisiana.  Analyses  of  seven 
artesian  wells  and  spring- waters  are  given.  Ten  soil  analyses 
were  made  and  published.  Three  specimens  of  iron  ore  and  two 
of  lignite  were  tested. 

The  "  List  of  Fossils  from  the  Green  Sand  Marl,  two  and  one- 
half  miles  Northeast  of  Mt.  Lebanon,  La.,"  affords  we 
believe,  the  first  satisfactory  published  proof  of  the  age  of  the 
large  majority  of  the  marly  fossiliferous  beds  of  northwest 
Louisiana. 

Lerch  continued  field-work  during  July  and  August  in  north- 
ern Louisiana.  The  special  field  of  investigation  is  indicated  by 
the  title  of  his  second  report  published  in  1893.  It  reads,  "A 
Preliminary  Report  upon  the  Hills  of  Louisiana,  South  of  the 
Vicksburg,  Shreveport  and  Pacific  Railroad,  to  Alexandria,  La." 
His  former  publication  being  styled  No.  i,  this  follows  accord- 
ingly as  No.  2. 

After  discussing  the  topography,  drainage  and  lakes,  he  takes 
up  "  General  Geology  "  and  treats  the  various  formations  that 
underlie  this  portion  of  the  State,  beginning  with  the  oldest,  or 
Cretaceous. 

"  Drake's  salt  works  are  described,  and  represented  in  section  ; 
the  Winnfield  "  Marble  "  is  likewise  described  ;  and  a  list  of  all 


40  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

known  or  supposed  Cretaceous  outcrops  is  given.  He  refers  to 
the  N.  W. — S.  E.  trend  of  these  outcrops,  asHilgard  and  others 
had  done  before,  and  concludes  "that  at  the  close  of  the  Mesozoic 
time  enormous  plutonic  forces  convulsed,  fractured,  faulted  and 
folded  the  Cretaceous  strata,  throwing  up  mountain  chains  of 
vast  extent  and  raising  them  far  above  the  waters  of  the  Gulf." 

The  lower  Eocene  beds  of  the  State  he  styles  "  lower  lignitic  " 
in  contradistinction  to  similar  beds  above  the  "  marine  Claiborne 
beds  "  termed  "  upper  lignitic." 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  expression  "  lower  ligni- 
tic," as  here  used  is  simply  a  descriptive  term  and  in  no  way 
implies  that  the  beds  are  equivalent  to  the  lower  Lignitic  beds 
of  the  Alabama  section. 

To  these  lignitic  beds  he  refers  the  outcrops  seen  along  the 
T.  and  P.  R.  R.,  from  4  miles  N.  W.  of  Cypress  station  to 
Robeline.  Other  outcrops  are  mentioned  about  Mansfield  and 
Shreveport. 

"  Marine  Claiborne  "  outcrops  are  mentioned  from  S.  7,  17  N., 
9  W.;  S.  22,  18  N.,  10  W.;  Natchitoches  ;  Capt.  Flair's,  6  miles 
N.  of  Benton  ;  well  on  S.  2,  20  N.,  13  W.;  S.  33,  16  N.,  5  W.; 
White  Oak  creek,  S.  14,  11  N.,  5  W.;  well  on  S.  10,  10  N.,  5  W. 

The  lignitic  beds  in  the  eastern  part  of  Northern  Louisiana, 
he  believes  to  be  above  the  Claiborne  and  terms  them  "  upper 
lignitic."  The}'  are  typically  exposed  in  the  bluffs  and  R.  R. 
cuts  about  Columbia. 

The  "  Arcadia  Clays  "  according  to  this  author  are  bounded 
on  the  south  "  by  the  north  boundary  line  of  the  calcareous 
marls  and  limestone  of  the  overlying  Jackson  and  Vicksburg 
groups  of  Hilgard,  sub-parallel  to  the  present  coast  line  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  They  cross  the  State  from  east  to  west,  rest- 
ing upon  the  deepl}'  eroded  surface  of  the  lower  lignitic,  marine 
Claiborne  and  upper  lignitic  formations  reaching  northward  into 
the  State  of  Arkansas,  westward  into  Texas,  and  are  bounded 
in  the  east  by  the  flood  plain  of  the  Mississippi  river.  Their 
dip  is  southwesterly,  though  on  account  of  the  erosion,  they 
have  sustained,  the  covering  mantle  of  succeeding  formations 
and  slight  disturbances  in  the  deposits,  it  is  frequently  very 
"difficult  to  make  it  out." 


I]  Historical  Review:    Third  Period  41 

"Jackson"  beds  are  represented  in  a  section  "  No.  13,"  as 
overlying  "  upper  lignitic  "  beds  and  the  latter  in  turn  are 
shown  to  overlie  the  "  Claiborne  formation." 

Unfortunately  the  "Jackson"  localities  given  are  ill-defined,  or 
belong  to  the  Lower  Claiborne  stage. 

The  "  Vicksburg  "  sections  given  on  p.  93.  are  Jackson  (see 
"  No.  15  "  and  "  No.  16  "). 

The  "Grand  Gulf"  rocks  are  described  and  illustrated  on 
pp.   94-98. 

The  "  Red  Sandy  Clays  "  of  northern  Louisiana  are  said  to 
have  been  deposited  at  the  close  of  the  Tertiary. 

Next,  "  The  Sands  and  Gravel  of  the  Drift  "  are  described  ; 
and,  finally,  the  "Alluvium"  is  discussed. 

Under  Economic  Geology  the  waters  examined  are  described. 

Under  "  Useful  Minerals  "  the  analyses  of  10  marls  are  given  ; 
and  gypsum  and  limestones  are  discussed. 

Under  "Other  Minerals  of  Economic  Value"  are  placed 
Building  stones,  Gravels,  Iron,  Clay,  Kaolin,  Salt,  Lignite  ;  of 
the  latter  4  analyses  are  given.  "  Soils  of  Northern  Louisiana  " 
are  discussed  and  45  analyses  are  given. 

The  "Botanical  Notes  "by  Vaughan  and  Tracy  are  an 
important  and  interesting  feature  of  the  report. 

Harris. — While  engaged  on  the  Tertiary  of  southern  Arkan- 
sas, this  author  made  a  short  visit  to  the  Bossier  and  Claiborne 
parishes  of  this  State  to  see  what  help  in  the  classification  of 
deposits  in  Arkansas  might  be  derived  from  fossiliferous  sections 
farther  south.  The  results  of  this  trip  were  embodied  in  one  of 
the  Arkansas  Annual  Reports.* 

A  detailed  section  at  Roberta,  and  at  the  Pope  Joy  cut  are 
given.     Various   fossiliferous  localities  are  mentioned. 

From  the  fossils  collected  by  Johnson  and  deposited  in  the 
U.  S.  Nat.  Museum  this  author  was  able  to  correlate  the 
St.  Maurice  beds  as  Lower  Claiborne. 

A  list  of  Jackson  fossils  from  Montgomery  follows  ;  the 
chapter  closes  with  a  brief  history  of  the  Zeuglodon  locality  on 
Ouachita  river. 

■^Arkansas  Geological  Survey,  Annual  Report,  1892,  vol.  2  (publ.  1894), 
by  Gilbert  D.  Harris,  8vo.  207  pp.,  plates,  map.     See  Chapter  YIII. 


42  Genlogical  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Cope. — This  author  published  in  1894*  some  notes  "  On  Some 
Pleistocene  Mammalia  from  Petite  Anse,  La." 

He  describes  two  new  species  of  Mylodon  and  one  of  Eqiius, 
and  mentions  others.  (See  special  report  on  Five  Islands, 
under  Petite  Anse). 

Vauglian. — By  permission  of  the  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Geol. 
Surv.,  Mr.  T.  Wayland  Vaughan  published  in  1895  an  article 
entitled   "  The  Stratigraphy  of  Northwestern  Louisiana,  "f 

This  work  represents  the  results  of  several  visits  to  this 
portion  of  the  State  by  the  author  dating  from  1889,  to  the 
autumn  of  1894. 

Vaughan's  treatment  of  the  subject  is  chronologic,  beginning 
with  the  lowest  or  oldest  beds,  the  Cretaceous.  He  very 
properly  doubts  Hilgard's  identification  of  Gryphcra  pitcheri  on 
the  ground  that  this  is  a  Comanche  series  fossil  and  not  of  the 
higher  glauconitic  horizon. 

This  author  takes  exception  to  Lerch's  "disturbance  in 
Louisiana  succeeding  the  close  of  the  Cretaceous  deposition," 
and  insists  on  an  erosion  period  between  the  Cretaceous  and 
Eocene.  Furthermore  he  believes  the  Cretaceous  strata  to  be 
undisturbed,  or  now  quite  horizontal. 

By  means  of  carefully  noting  the  distribution  of  fossil 
remains  in  this  portion  of  the  State,  Vaughan  was  able  to 
correct  some  of  the  errors  of  Lerch  as  to  the  distribution  of  the 
Jackson  stage. 

Unfortunately  he  regarded  Lerch's  "lower  lignitic,"  and 
Hilgard's  "Mansfield  group''  as  belonging  to  the  Lower 
Claiborne. 

He  is  doubtless  right  in  referring  Lerch's  "Arcadia  Clays" 
to  the  Lower  Claiborne. 

Some  of  Lerch's  "upper  lignitic"  beds  are  proven  to  be 
Lower  Claiborne,  while  others,  as  at  Columbia,  are  referred  to  a 
newly  named  substage,  the  "  Cocksfield  Ferry  beds." 

Jackson  and  Vicksburg  localities  with  lists  of  fossils  are  given. 
The  Grand  Gulf  beds  were  discussed  and  a  new  group  of  strata 
is  described  under  the  name  Sparta  Sands. 

*  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Proc,  vol.  34,  pp.  458-468. 
fAmer.  Geologist,  vol.  15,  p.  205-229. 


I]  Historical  Review  :   Third  Period  43 

"  Covering  the  southern  part  of  the  Lower  Claiborne  area  and 
all  of  the  Jackson  and  Vicksburg,  excepting  small  spots,  and 
extending  over  the  Grand  Gulf,  are  deep  quartz  sands  some- 
times with  gravel,  which  bear  a  growth  of  long-leaf  pine. 
These  sands  rest  unconformably  on  the  lower  terranes.  The 
name  Sparta  Sayids  is  proposed  for  them." 

Vaughan  published  as  Bulletin  No.  142  of  the  U.  S.  Geol. 
Survey,  1896,  practically  the  above  notes  plus  a  bibliography  ; 
list  of  fossils,  with  localities  ;  and  description  of  several  new 
moUuscan  species,  with  figures. 

Clendenin. — W.  W.  Clendenin  in  1894  continued  the  work 
begun  by  Dr.  lycrch.  He  was  connected  with  both  the  Univer- 
sity and  the  Experiment  Stations.  Six  months  were  spent  in 
the  University  and  six  mouths  in  the  field.  During  the  summer 
of  1894  and  '95  he  was  engaged  in  an  examination  of  the 
"  Florida  Parishes  of  East  Louisiana  and  the  Bluff,  Prairie  and 
Hill  Lands  of  Southern  Louisiana.  His  report  on  this  area 
appeared  in  1896,  as  part  III  of  Geology  and  Agriculture.  The 
general  topographical  features  of  the  region  are  discussed  and 
the  terms  Lafayette  and  Columbia  substituted  for  Hilgard's  old 
Orange  Sand  and  Port  Hudson. 

On  the  Five  Islands  he  worked  out  the  fact  that  the  islands 
were  lifted,  in  part  at  least,  during  the  period  which  followed  the 
deposition  of  the  Lafayette  gravel.  This  idea  was  a  marked 
improvementon  Hilgard's  early  supposition  that  the  islands  were 
formed  by  the  differential  erosion  of  a  Cretaceous  ridge  in 
pre-Tertiray  times. 

He  also  published  several  well  sections  in  southern  Louisiana 
which  throw  considerable  light  on  the  geology  of  the  southwest- 
ern part  of  the  State. 

Part  of  the  summer  of  1895  was  spent  in  the  Bluff  and  Mis- 
sissippi alluvial  lands,  and  his  report  on  this  area  appeared  as 
Part  IV  of  Geology  and  Agriculture.  He  gives  a  general  dis- 
cussion of  the  life  and  development  of  a  river  and  shows  how  it 
applies  to  the  Mississippi. 

Johyison. — In  1899,  an  article  appeared  in  the  Philadelphia 
Academy's  Proceedings  entitled  "  New  and  Interesting  species 
in  the  '  Isaac  Lea  Collection  of  Eocene  Mollusca.'  " 


Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  1899,  pp.  71-82,  pi.  1-2. 


44  GEOLOciicAL  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Herein  were  described  from  the  Jackson  beds  at  Montgomery, 
La.,  Mitra  grantensis,  Phos  hilli,  var.  niagnocostatus ,  Cyprcea 
ludoviciana ;  from  the  Lower  Claiborne  at  St.  Maurice,  Fusus 
ludoviciana  ;  from  Hammett's  branch,  near  Mt.  Lebanon,  Cypraa 
vaughani,  Ovtda  siibtruncata. 


(;Koi.or.icAi.  SuRvicv  OF  Louisiana,  Rkport,   189c) 

GEOLOGICAL    MAP 

OF 

LOUISIANA 


Section  II 
GENERAL    GEOLOGY 

BY 

HARRIS   AND  VEATCH 


GENERAL  GEOLOGY 


DIVISION  /,  STRATIGRAPHIC  GEOLOGY 
CRETACEOUS  SERIES 
Ripley  Stage 

Preliminary  Remarks 
Localities  : 

Page 

Rayburn's  salt  works 52 

Section  j2,  i^  N.,  7  PF. .  . .  .55 
Head  of  Lake  Bistineau, ...  55 

Price' s  lick 55 

Old  salt  works 55 

Drake's  salt  works 55 

Winnjield  limestone  SS-  ip 
&jo,fiN.,  3   IV..... 56 

Conclusions 


Page 

Limestone  near  Coochie  brake.  .59 

Cedar  lick , 61 

Rapides  parish 61 

Bayou  Chicot  liinestone 61 

The  Five  Islands 62 

Calcasieu  zuell  section 62 


EOCENE  SERIES 

Midway  Stage 
Localities  : 

Rocky  Spri7ig  church 63 

Other  localities 64 


King' s  salt  works 63 


EiGNiTic  Stage 

Preliminary  Remarks 
Areal  Distribution 
Tlie  7nap .  .65 
Localities  : 

Pendleton 65 

Stone  coal  bluff 66 

Salt  licks 66 

Slaughter' s  Creek  lignite ....  66 

Sabinetown 67 

Low' s  creek 67 

Vicinity  of  Negreet  P.  C>. .  .  .68 


Vicinity  of  Many 68 

Ft.  fessup 6g 

Robeline 70 

Cedar  bluff. 71 

Marthaville 71 

Mansfield 72 

Grand  Caiie 73 


Page 


Page 


Natchitoches 70 

Grand  Ecore 71 


Stonewall 73 

Shreveport 73 


Lower   Claiborne   Stage 
Prei,iminary  Remarks 
Areai,  Distribution 
The  map.  ..74 
Localities  : 


(Sabine  Parish) 74 

Lo2v's  creek,  below  Sabine- 

town 74 

Lower  Negreet 74 

Simpkin''  s  place 75 

Leech  neighboj-hood 76 

Sotith  of  Many 76 

(Natchitoches  Parish) 76 

Victoria  mills 76 

Provencal 77 

Natchitoches 77 

Black  lake 77 

Section  4,  11  N.,  16  IV. ... . 77 

(Winn  Parish) 78 

St.  Maurice 78 

Couley 79 

Coochie  brake 79 

Winnjield 79 

New  Hope  church 79 

Sparta — Montgomery  road, 

24.th  mile  post 80 

Vasherie  bra7ich 80 

(Grant  Parish) 80 

Georgetown 80 

(Caldwell  Parish) 80 

Columbia 80 

Lone  Grave  bluff 82 

(Ouachita  Parish) 82 


Monroe 82 

Calhoun 82 

(Jackson   Parish) 82 

(Lincoln  Parish) 82 

Vining  mills 82 

Vienna 83 

Redwine's  spring 83 

Niyie  miles  west  of  Ruston ....  83 

(Bienville  Parish) 83 

Sect,  j2,  14  N.,  7  W 83 

Sparta 84 

Liberty  Hill 84 

Arcadia 84 

Gibbsland 85 

HammetV s  branch 85 

(Bossier  Parish) 85 

Coushatta  bluff 85 

Red  land  area 86 

Bellevue 86 

(Webster  Parish) 87 

Minden 87 

Norther7i  part  of  Parish 87 

(Claiborne  Parish) 88 

Lisbon 88 

Hay7iesville 88 

Hom.er 88 

(Union  Parish) 89 

D'  Arbonne 89 


Jackson   Stage 
Distribution 
The  map 89 

LOCAUTIES  : 

Bayou  Toro 90  Tancock' s  prairie 91 

Rattan  P.  O go  Tiillos 91 

Mo7ilgomery 91  Olla 92 

Ouachita  river 92 

OLIGOCENE 

ViCKSBURG  Stage 
Distribution 
Roseficld 93 

Grand  Gulf 
Historical 
Origi7i  of  the  TermGra7idGulf.g^ 
The   Pascagoula     formatio7i  Study  of  the  Grand  Gulf 

{Miocene) 94  in  Louisiana 94 

Features  of  the  Formation  : 

Characteristics 95      Thickness 98 

Distribution 96     Fossils 98 

Age  of  the  Grand  Gulf 

Results  of  Work  iii  Alabama  and  Florida 98 

LAFAYETTE 

Historical 

Origin  of  the  Term  Lafayette 
Features  of  the  Formation  in  Louisiana 
Definite  Features  of  the  Deposits 
Distribution  of  the  Gravels 

East  of  the  Mississippi 10 1 

Alo7ig  the  northern  and  southern  borders  of  the 

Gra7id  Gulf 102 

Around  Many  aiid  Sabinetown 102 

The  Black  lake  bayou  gravel  train 102 

.   St.  Maurice  and  Montgomery 103 


Ouachita  river  gravel  train  .\o\  hi  N'n  Union  and  Claiborne  .io/\ 
Localities    where  gravels  are        Around  the  cretaceous  outcrops  \0/\ 
found  in  wells 104 

Regions  with  no  gravel 
Thickness  of  the  deposits 
Conclusions 

QUATERNARY 

Classification 
Historical 

L,yell 107    Johnson 108 

Hilgard 107     McGee 108 

Table  of  Louisiana  Quaternary  Formations 
River  development 109     Coastal   development 109 

Development  and  Characteristics  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Quaternary  Formations 

Manner  of  Formation 

Natural  periods  in  the  Qua-         Period  of  elevation no 

teriiary  of  Louisiana 109     Present  period  of  subsidence .  no 

First  period  of  subsidence .  .  .  109 

The  Basal  Gravel 

Characteristics  and  development in 

The  Port  Hudson 

Origin  of  term    in     A  real  distribution   and  topo- 

General  characteristics 112         graphical  features 113 

Synonymy 112      Thickness  of  the  Port  Hud so7i.  114 

Fossils 114 

The  Lcess  and  Yellow  Loam 

Origin  of  tej'ms 115     Origin  of  the  lcess 116 

General  characteristics  of  the  The  yellow  loatn 116 

loess 116     Distribution 117 

The  Alluvium  and  Recent  Coastal  Formations 
Recent  coastal  formations .  ...117      The  Alluvium 118 

D 


Quaternary     Phenomena    other    than    Erosion 
AND  Deposition 

Local  Crustai.  Movements 
The  Five  Islands ii 8 

The  Mud  Lumps 
Description 119      Theories  of  origin 119 

DIVISION  II.     ECONOMIC  GEOLOGY 
Important  Products 

Salt 

Drake' s  salt  works 121     Bistineau  salt  works 124. 

Ray  burn' s  salt   works 122     Sabi^ie  parish  salt  works.  .  .  124 

King' s  salt  works 123     Other  salt  springs 124 

Price' s  salt  works 123     Five  Islands 125 

Conclusions , 125 

Sulphur 

Sulphur  City,  Calcasieu  parish 126 

Clays 

Geiieral  statement 127     Catahoula  parish 128 

Verno7i  parish 129 

Sandstone 

Varieties 129     Harrisonburg 1 30 

Buyout    Toro 129     Petite  Ansc 1 30 

Boyce 130 

Limestones 

Cretaceous  limestones 130    Tertiary  limestones  concretions  131 

Gravel 
Unimportant  Mineral  Products 

Iron  Ores 

Lignite 

Dolet  hills 135     Majisfield 136 

Stone  coal  bluff  .Sabine  river.  135     Shreveport 136 


Many 1 30     Sec.  11,  18  N. ,  S  W. 1 36 

Lead  and  Zinc  Ores 

Mart. 

Gypsum 

Petroi,eum  and  Gas 

Lake   Charles 137     Shreveport 138 

Belle  Isle 138     Negreet  bayou 138 

Breaux   B?-idge 138 


CRETACEOUS  SERIES 

Ripley  Stage 
Preliminary  Remarks 

la  our  historic  review  we  have  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Judge  Bvy,  early  in  this  century  mentioned  the  occurrence 
of  Cretaceous  fossils  on  the  Ouachita  river  (  see  p.  1 6  ) .  Morton 
(  see  p.  17  )  soon  followed  with  references  to  other  localities  of 
this  formation  in  the  State,  namely  between  Alexandria  and 
Natchitoches. 

But  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  these  early  references 
were  based  on  faultj^  evidence,  the  former  on  improper  identifica- 
tions of  fossil  remains,  the  latter  on  merelithologic  resemblances. 
Hilgard's  references  to  two  characteristic  Cretaceous  species 
found  in  dumps  from  salt  wells  in  northern  Louisiana  have  fre- 
quently been  pointed  to  as  the  first  satisfactor}'  proofs  of  the 
Cretaceous  series  in  Louisiana.  But  when  it  is  seen  by  his  Supple- 
mentary and  Final  Report  (p.  28)  that  it  is  King's  salt  works  that 
yielded  these  fossils  and  that  the  Gryphira  pitchc?'i  is  really 
Ostrea  pulaskensis  a  characteristic  Midway  Eocene  species ;  and 
the  character  of  the  material  in  which  the}-  are  embedded  is 
precisely  that  of  the  lower  Eocene  beds  near  Prairie  bluff  and 
Snow  hill,  x\labama,  we  are  led  to  surmise  that  the  E.  cosiata 
was  in  reality  something  else  or  w^as  brought  up  from  some 
distance  below  the  surface  or  from  some  altogether  different 
locality. 

We  must  therefore  include  King's  salt  w^orks  under  the 
next  stage,  nameh',  the  Midway  Eocene. 

Localities 

Raylnirn  s  saltivorks. — Mr.  Lerch's  report  for  1892  (p.  13)  this 
locality  is  described  as  in  Section  24,  15  N.,  5  W.,  about  10  miles 
southeast  of  Bienville.  An  ideal  section  of  the  rocks  at  this 
locality  is  given  which,  b}*    the  way  is  considerably  at  variance 


nj 


General  Geology :  Cretaceous 


53 


with  Veatch's  notes  on  the  same  region    (see  Fig.  2)  ;  but  he 
mentions  the  occurrence  here  of  well-preserved  Exooyra  costata. 


-wm 

0  °  ° 
0 

W_s-.  \ 

Cretaceous  Lower  g^jj.  ^^jj^  Old  Salt 

Claiborne  Furnaces 

Fig.  2. — Sketch  Map  of  Rayburn's  Salt  Works 


54  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

The  locality  given  by  Hilgard  and  Lerch  seems  to  be  in  error. 
The  junior  author  has  carefully  gone  over  the  deeds  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Whitlow,  the  present  owner  of  the  place,  in  which 
the  land  is  described  as  Sec.  31,  15  N.,  5  W. 

The  old  salt  furnaces  and  wells  cover  about  forty  acres  of  a 
little  circular  valley'  which  lies  around  and  a  little  west  of  the 
center  of  that  Section.  The  hills  which  surround  the  valley  slope 
very  gentl}^  down  from  an  elevation  of  sixty  feet,  which 
they  attain  over  a  mile  from  the  old  works.  The  southern 
end  of  the  valley  is  quite  swampy,  and  during  heavy  rains  is 
flooded  to  depth  of  two  or  three  feet.  The  little  outlet  creek, 
Fousti  creek,  has  its  origin  in  the  lower  end  of  this  swamp. 
Around  the  edge  of  the  valley  are  numerous  circular  mounds 
about  sixty  feet  in  diameter  and  three  to  four  feet  high.  They 
are  of  the  same  type  as  the  little  mounds  which  are  so  common 
in  different  parts  of  Louisiana. 

The  old  dump  heaps  around  the  wells,  the  latter  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  feet  deep,  show  large  quantities  of  varioush-  colored 
quartz  and  chert  gravels.  Fragments  of  dark  gray  and  yel- 
low fissured  crystalline  limestone,  and  of  white  or  bluish 
white  masses  of  gypsum,  are  quite  abundant  in  some  of  the  old 
dumps. 

The  hills  surrounding  the  old  lick  are  composed  almost  entirely 
of  gray  sand  with  small  iron  concretions.  On  the  area  mapped, 
but  three  places  were  seen  which  showed  anj^thing  harder  than 
sand.  Just  east  of  the  wells,  from  five  to  eight  feet  above  them, 
is  a  little  patch  of  black  prairie  land  covered  with  small  hawthorn 
bushes.  On  the  surface  of  the  prairie  numerous  specimens  of 
large  Gryplura  vesicularis  and  a  single  valve  of  Exogyra  costata 
were  found. 

It  seems  queer,  from  the  abundance  of  the  former  species  and 
the  comparative  scarcity  of  the  latter,  that  the  only  large  Ostrea- 
like  shell  mentioned  b}'  Lerch  occurs  at  this  locality  in  Exogyra 
costata.  Immediately  below  the  black  soil  is  a  la^-er  of  very  soft 
white,  chalk -like  limestone.  It  is  from  this  that  the  large  shells 
have  been  derived.  It  is  filled  with  finely  preserved  Cretaceous 
fossils.  The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  species  found  here 
(mainly  Stanton's  identifications): 


n]  General  Geology  :  Cretaceous  55 

Exogyra  costata,  Inoceramtis  barabina  ? 

GrypJuFa  vesicularis,  Legumen  planulatum, 

Osirea  pltanosa,  Linearia  7neiastriaia, 

Ostrea  larva,  Avellana  bullata, 

Peden  burlingtonensis ,  Baculites  anceps, 

Neithea  quinquecosta,  Heteroceras, 

Crassatella  vadosa,  Ptychoceras. 

A  second  outcrop  containing  poor  Cretaceous  fossils  was  seen 
north  of  the  old  wells.  Near  the  southwestern  part  of  the  area 
shown  in  the  map  the  sandy  land  is  replaced  b}-  stiff  clay  land, 
identical  with  the  stiff  Lower  Claiborne  land  further  north.  The 
iron  concretions  which  occur  in  places  throughout  the  clay 
contain  Vejiericardia  and  a  few  imperfectly  preserved  Gastropoda. 
Section  j2,  i^  N.,  7  W. — Found  by  recent  investigation  to 
belong  to  the  Lower  Claiborne  stage,  which  see. 

Head  of  Lake  Bistineau. — The  old  works  here,  Hopkins  has 
mapped  as  Cretaceous  on  account  of  the  supposed  connection 
between  the  salt  beds  and  the  Cretaceous  series  ;  covered,  except 
at  low  stages  of  water.  Recentl)-  proven  Cretaceous  by  Vetach. 
Price' s  lick. — This  is  listed  by  Hopkins  and  Lerch  as  a  Creta- 
ceous outcrop  simply  because  of  the  presence  here  of  strong 
saline  springs.     Location  :     S.  25,  13  N.,  5  W. 

'' Old  salt  works.'' — This  is  represented  on  Hopkins'  map  as 
being  in  S.  35,  13  N.,  6  W.  Nothing  definite  is  known  of  these 
works. 

Drake's  salt  works. — Section  21,  12  N.,  5  W.  The  Licks, 
according  to  Hilgard,  extend  along  Saline  bayou  for  one  and 
one-half  miles,  "At  their  northern  end,  on  the  east  bank,  a 
number  of  artesian  wells  have  been  bored  ;  one,  a  thousand  and 
eleven  feet  deep,  and  said  to  have  been  sunk  in  uniform  lime- 
stone rock  all  the  way,  spouts  a  constant  stream  of  from  eighteen 
to  twenty  gallons  of  salt-water  per  minute."  *  *  *  *  "  Here, 
as  elsewhere,  many  pits  were  dug  during  the  war,  fifteen  to 
eigteen  feet  deep.  All  these  struck  the  laminated  clay,  or  "  soap- 
stone  ;"  but  in  the  rubbish  of  one  I  found  large  fragments  of  a 
very  cr^-stalline,  j^ellowish  limestone,  horizontally  banded  with 
gray  ;  evidently  the  same  as  that  at  King's  and  Drake's." 

There  can  be  no  doubt    that  much  of  the   limestone   passed 


56  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

through  in  the  deep  well  was  of  Cretaceous  origin.  Doubtless, 
too,  some  of  the  shallower  wells  reached  the  same  formation  ;  but 
as  yet,  no  positive  proofs  of  the  age  of  the  various  strata  are  at 
hand. 

Wmnfield  limestone :  SS.  /p  and  jo,  ii  N.,j  IV.  (according 
to  Lerch). — Perhaps  there  is  no  locality  in  northern  Louisiana 
that  can  excel  this  in  features  of  interest,  for  the  geologist  and 
layman  alike.  Nor  is  it  a  matter  of  wonder  that  great  local  inter- 
est should  be  manifest  in  this  high  mass  of  dislocated,  faulted, 
folded  rocks,  showing  here  a  mere  confused  mass  of  angular 
boulders,  there  a  vertical  cliff" of  30  feet  with  rocks  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes  piled  up  in  a  sloping  talus  at  its  base.  The  "Tower 
rock"  or  "Chimney"  is  well  shown  on  PI.  i.  The  rugged, 
fractured  character  of  the  cliff  at  this  place  is  also  well  illustrated. 
Below  the  sloping  talus,  to  the  left  of  the  picture  is  a  small  pond 
occupying  a  central  or  crater -like  area  of  the  upheaval  that 
brought  up  these  rocks  from  beneath  the  Tertiary  strata. 

The  number,  relative  importance  and  positions  of  the  various 
limestone  outcrops  of  this  region  are  shown  on  the  accompany- 
ing topographic  sketch,  (Fig.  3)  made  by  this  survey  early  in 
the  season. 

On  the  western  end  of  the  high  bluff  in  the  center  of  the  map 
the  ledges  seem  to  dip  in  a  northerly  direction.  But  farther  east 
they  dip  eastward.  Other  outcrops  to  the  left  of  the  center  of 
the  map  have  a  northerly  or  rather  northwesterlj^  dip  of  from  30° 
to  45.°  The  chimney  seems  to  be  composed  of  nearly  horizontal 
layers. 

The  position  of  the  other  outcrops  together  with  what  dips 
have  been  ascertained  seem  to  indicate  that  there  is  here  an 
irregular  anticlinal  fold  extending  in  a  northeast  and  southwest 
direction  ;  that  the  greatest  energy  in  the  upheaving  force  took 
effect  not  far  east  of  the  "chimney,"  and  about  in  the  present 
Bayou  channel  ;  that  the  axis  there  divided  and  the  upheaval  of 
the  eastern  outcrop  was  one  result  and  the  outcrops  west  of  the 
Bayou  to  the  north  was  another. 

The  general  trend  of  the  various  outcrops  is  towards  the 
Coochie  brake  west  of  Atlanta,  discussed  below. 

Hilgard  says  briefly  regarding  the  dislocations  here  shown  : 


11] 


General  Geology :  Cretaceous 


57 


"It  evident  that  subsidences  and  consequent  dislocations  fre- 
quently occur  in  the  mass ;  and  large  fragments  frequently 
tumble  down." 

Hopkins'  section    (see  p.   33  of  this  report)  shows  his  idea  of 
the  relation  of  the  Eocene  and  Cretaceous. 


— E- 


VHi    Cretaceous  Outcrops 

Fig.  3. — Sketch  of  Winfield  '\  marble'''  quarry  and  sitrrotaidings.  This 
map  embraces  one  square  mile.  Elevations  are  denoted  by  contour 
intervals  of  20  feet,  commencing  with  o  at  the  base  of  the  eastern 
Bluff. 


Johnson  has  indicated  that  the  Cretaceous  limestone,  Tertiary 
limestone  (which  he  improperly  calls  Jackson)  and  the  Orange 
sands  above,  are  each  unconformable  in  their  bedding  to  all  the 
other  layers. 

lyerch  (p.  72,  2d  report),  says  definitely  that  "at  the  close  of 
the  Me.sozoic  time  enormous  plutonic  forces  convulsed,  fractured, 


58  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

faulted  and  folded  the  Cretaceous  strata,  throwing  up  mountain 
chains  of  vast  extent,  and  raising  them  far  above  the  waters  of 
the  gulf."  "If  we  could  remove  the  covering  mantle  of  Tertiary 
and  drift,  we  would  yet  see  the  chains  and  peaks  of  limestone 
ranges  formed  at  the  close  of  the  middle  age  of  our  planet, 
altered  somewhat  by  later  erosion  and  denudation. ' '  He  believes 
there  was  no  interval  of  a  land  period  between  the  Cretaceous 
and  Eocene  in  this  State. 

Vaughan  *  argues  that  there  was  a  time  interval  between  the 
close  of  the  Cretaceous  and  the  beginning  of  the  Eocene,  and 
adds  :  "  Furthermore,  the  Cretaceous  at  the  Winn  parish  marble 
quarry  is  almost  horizontal,  the  limestone  rising  as  a  butte-like 
mass  into  the  Eocene.  If  there  had  been  a  mountain  chain,  as 
Dr.  Lerch  maintains,  with  the  Eocene  deposited  immediately 
thereafter,  before  erosion  had  degraded  the  limestone,  the  Cre- 
taceous rock  at  the  place  under  discussion  should  represent  either 
a  dome  or  anticline,  but  such  is  not  the  case.  In  the  mind  of 
the  author  the  most  logical  explanation  of  the  relation  of  the 
Cretaceous  to  the  Eocene  is  that  a  land  period  followed  the  close 
of  the  deposition  of  the  rocks  belonging  to  the  former  series." 

Vaughan  is  doubtless  right  so  far  as  his  last  statement  is  con- 
cerned. Nowhere  along  the  Atlantic  or  Gulf  slope  are  we  aware 
that  the  Eocene  follows  the  Cretaceous  without  a  marked  strati- 
graphic  break.  But  he  is  wrong  in  saying  that  domes  and 
anticlines  are  not  here  represented.  In  fact  both  are  splendidly 
exhibited.  Nothing  could  be  more  apparent  than  the  dome-like 
structure  of  the  easternmost  bluff  whose  western  end  shows  a 
northern  dip,  which  but  a  few  yards  eastward  swings  around 
eastward  and  finally  becomes  due  east.  To  be  sure  it  is  only  the 
N.  E.  ^  of  the  dome  that  is  represented  by  this  bluff. 

In  some  instances  the  rocks  are  so  faulted,  fractured  and 
fissured  that  no  general  dips  can  be  ascertained  ;  but  we  are 
strongly  inclined  to  believe  the  huge  masses  of  Lower  Claiborne 
limestone  indicated  to  the  north — northwest  of  the  Cretaceous 
escarpments  are  quite  highly  inclined  to  the  north.  It  then 
follows  that  the  time  of  upheavel  of  these  limestone  deposits 
was  since  the  Lower  Claiborne  time. 


*  Amer.  Geol.  Vol.  15,  p.  208,  1895. 


n] 


General  Geology  :  Cretaceous 


59 


The  character  of  the  Cretaceous  limestone  here  exposed  is 
such  as  to  render  it  almost  useless  as  a  building  or  ornamental 
stone,  but  it  can  be  used  to  advantage  for  making  lime.  It  is 
full  of  cracks,  pockets  and  joints  ;  is  highh'  crystalline  and 
shows  whitish  and  bluish  bands  of  various  shades  of  color.  So 
far  no  fossils  have  been  observed  in  these  crystalline  limestone 
ledges. 

The  Lower  Claiborne  limestone  is  of  a  yellowish  or  reddish 
white  color,  far  less  crystalline  and  very  fossiliferous. 

Limesto?ie  tiear  Coochie  brake. — The  illustration  herewith  given, 


Fig.  4. — Sketch  map  of  vicinity  of  limestone  outcrop 
near  Coochie  brake.  The  contour  intervals  are  here 
20  feet  as  usual.  The  little  rise  to  the  extreme  right 
^narked  "^  40^^  is  shown  in  a  correspo?iding  position 
on  PI.  2. 

PI.  2,  was  taken  just  south  of  the  limestone  outcrop  in  the 
direction  indicated  by  the  large  arrow  (see  Fig.  4). 

Here  there  is  a  northwestern  quarter  of  a  dome-like  upheaval 
well  exposed.  To  the  east  is  what  appears  to  be  a  less 
marked,  or  lower  structure  of  similar  nature  still  hidden  beneath 
the  surface  soil.  Their  location  and  general  relations  to  each 
other  are  likewise  shown  on  the  sketch-map,  Fig.  4. 

This  limestone  is  more  arenaceous  or  sand}'  in  appearance 
than  that  at  Winnfield  ;  but  is  of  a  most  excellent  quality  for 
building  purposes.     Its  beauty  as  building  material  is,  however, 


6o  Geological  Survey  oi<    Louisiana  [Sect. 

greatly  marred  by  the  nodules  of  pyrite  scattered  throughout  its 
mass,  causing  streaks  and  blotches  of  iron  oxide  over  its  exposed 
surfaces.  Its  quantity  is  doubtless  sufficient  for  any  demand 
that  is  liable  to  be  made  on  such  material  for  many  years  to 
come. 

The  peculiarity  of  this  limestone  outcrop  in  the  midst  of  Ter- 
tiary sands  and  clays  has  naturally  aroused  local  curiosity.  The 
glittering  appearance  of  the  freshly  broken  pyrite  nodules  has 
doubtless  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  vast  majority  of  statements 
made  concerning  the  mineral  wealth  of  this  region.  Vaughan* 
has  made  the  following  pointed  statement  regarding  this  exposure: 
"On  sections  31  and  32,  T.  loN.,  R.  4W.,  near  Atlanta  in  Winn 
parish,  there  outcrops  a  hard,  blue  limestone,  which  is  traversed 
by  minute  fissures.  In  these  fissures  a  small  amount  of  gold  is 
found." 

This  must  have  been  a  near  shore  deposit,  for  it  contains  the 
impressions  of  dicotyledonous  leaves,  reminding  one  somewhat 
of  the  Dakota  sandstone.  The  age  of  the  limestone  is  not  known 
to  a  certainty.  As  pointed  out  above  it  is  quite  different  in 
lithological  character  from  the  Winnfield  marble  ;  but  since  the 
present  position  of  the  outcrop  is  due  to  a  similar,  if  not  the 
same  orographic  movement  that  brought  up  the  Winnfield  beds; 
in  fact,  both  seem  to  be  on  the  same  line  of  weakness,  N.  E., 
S.  W.,  we  are  led  to  regard  all  as  of  Cretaceous  ages  as  else- 
where explained. 

Coochie  brake  seemingly  owes  its  origin  to  the  same  disloca- 
tion of  the  strata  that  brought  up  these  limestone  beds  from 
below.  It  appears  to  rest  upon  the  down-throw  side  of  the 
fault-line  that  fractured  these  dome-like  structures  along  their 
major  axes.  In  case  the  weather  were  wet,  a  pond  of  water, 
very  analogously  located  would  be  formed  along  the  south  side 
of  the  Winnfield  outcrops,  where  in  dry  seasons  only  a  stream 
is  formed  which  has  subterranean  connections  with  Bayou 
Sonnel. 

The  origin  of  Coochie  brake  or  Coochie  lake  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  has  little  in  common  with  the  origin  of  the  larger  lakes 
found  close  along  the  Red  river  channel.     This  lake  is  but  a  few 

*  U.  S.  GeoL  vSurvey,  BulL  142,  p.  12,  1896. 


II]  General  Geology  :    Cretaceous  6i 

feet  in  depth  as  proven  by  the  cj^press  knees  everywhere  present, 
and  by  the  fact  that  wading  is  possible  well  out  to  the  middle. 
The  author  took  the  photograph  shown  as  Plate  3,  by  wading 
out  about  ys  mile  where  the  water  was  scarcely  3  feet  deep. 

The  following  detailed  account  of  the  timber  contained  in  this 
brake  has  been  kindly  furnished  by  Mr.  Ferguson,  who  person- 
ally surveyed  the  brake  and  made  the  estimates. 

Brake  contain  somewhat  over  700  acres ;  with 
87,920,000  feet  of  cypress, 
29,000,000  feet  of  gum, 
14,000,000  feet  of  tupelo  gum, 
30,000  feet  of  long  leaf  pine. 

Cedar  lick. — Hilgard*  says  of  this  locality:  "About  seven 
miles  southeast  from  this  limestone  hill  [Winnfield  marble], 
there  is  another  salt  lick  called  Cedar  lick  (from  cedars  growing 
there) ;  it  is  several  acres  in  extent,  and  there  is  on  it  a  steadily 
flowing  brine  spring  of  pure  taste  and  considerable  strength. 
It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  here,  also,  the  Cretaceous  rock 
underlies  at  a  moderate  depth." 

Rapides  Parish. — Johnson  mentions  a  Cretaceous  outcrop  on 
N.  E.  ^  S.  26,  6  N.,  4  W.  in  Rapides  parish.  We  have  not  yet 
had  time  to  investigate  this  locality. 

Bayou  Chicot  limestone. — Two  outcrops  are  included  under  this 
heading.  They  are  located  in  S.  35,  3  S. ,  i  W. ,  about  eight  miles 
southwest  of  Bayou  Chicot  P.  O.  They  have  been  visited  and 
favorably  reported  upon  by  Hopkins  ;  unfavorably  by  Clendenin. 
One  shows  an  exposure  of  eight  feet  high  and  fiftj^  feet  wide. 
This  was  made  in  procuring  limestone  for  burning,  and  the 
ruined  kilns  can  still  be  seen.  The  dip  of  the  rocks  is  22°,  S. 
70°  W. 

The  second  is  exposed  in  the  bottom  of  a  pit  about  350  yards 
southeast  of  the  first  mentioned  outcrop  ;  shows  a  dip  of  33°,  S. 
65°  w. 

The  limestone  is  here  of  a  much  darker  color  on  an  average 
than  at  the  more  northern  outcrops.     Some  fragments,  however, 


*  Sup.  and  Final  Report  Geol.  Reconn..  La.,  p.  32.,  1873. 
f  House  Ex.  Doc.  50  Cong.  ist.  Sess.  No.  195,  p.  23.,  r888. 


62  GeoloCxICAl  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

show  a  tendency  to  the  white  and  blue  banded  structure  so 
characteristic  of  the  Winnfield  layers. 

Were  it  not  for  the  excessive  dip  of  these  localities,  carrying 
the  beds  below  at  a  rapid  rate,  this  limestone  would  doubtless  be 
quarried  extensively. 

The  Five  Islands. — For  information  concerning  the  supposed 
Cretaceous  layers  in  these  islands,  see  special  paper  devoted  to 
their  geology. 

Calcasieu  Well  Section. — As  already  shown  on  p.  25,  the  crys- 
talline limestone,  sulphur  and  gypsum  beds  in  the  Louisiana  Oil 
Co.'s  well  on  the  west  fork  of  Calcasieu  river  have  been  referred 
to  the  Cretaceous  series.     (See  special  topic  Sulphur.) 

CONCI^USIONS 

Much  has  been  said  in  geological  reports  on  the  State  of 
Louisiana  about  the  Cretaceous  "backbone"  which  extends  in  a 
ridge  northwest  of  the  Five  Islands  to  the  Salines  of  Bienville 
parish. 

This  Cretaceous  ridge  was  supposed  to  connect  onto  a  fictitious 
southern  deflection  of  the  same  series  in  Arkansas  as  laid  down 
on  Marcou's  geological  map  of  the  United  States. 

Our  observations  go  to  show  that  whatever  folding  and  faulting 
has  been  the  cause  of  bringing  the  underlying  Cretaceous  strata 
to  day,  has  been  in  the  northeast-southwest  direction,  roughly 
parallel  in  fact  to  the  northwestern  shore  line  of  the  old  Missis- 
sippi embayment  in  Eocene  Tertiary  time. 

The  shallow  depth  at  which  rocks  supposed  to  be  of  this  series 
have  been  struck  in  the  Calcasieu  wells  (380  ft.);  the  salines  at  the 
mouth  of  Bayou  Negreet  and  to  the  north  ;  the  Midway  beds  a 
few  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Many  ;  the  great  depth  of  the 
Shreveport  well  (1,100  ft.)  with  no  record  of  Midway  or  Creta- 
ceous limestones  though  nearly  in  line  with  the  so-called  axis  or 
"back-bone";  the  various  dips  observed  in  the  limestones  at 
various  exposures  with  but  one  exception — the  St.  Landry  out- 
crops— all  indicate  northeast-southwest  local  folds  parallel 
to  old  shore  lines  rather  than  a  mountain  chain  at  right  angles 
to  the  same,  or  in  a  northwest-southeast  direction. 


EOCENE  SERIES 
Midway  Stage 

IvOCAl,lTlES 

Rocky  Spring  church. — On  the  road  from  Marthaville  to  Many 
near  Rocky  Spring  church  (N.  E.  X  Sec.  24,  8  N.,  i]  W,, 
on  the  Ranes'  place)  a  very  impure  limestone  is  met  with  in  the 
bed  and  left  bank  of  a  small  stream.  Impure  as  it  is,  this  lime- 
stone is  said  to  have  been  used  for  lime  in  the  construction  of 
Ft.  Jessup. 

To  the  westward,  perhaps  one-half  mile  on  higher  ground,  a 
well  is  said  to  have  passed  through  a  bed  containing  shells  in 
abundance.  Another  well  to  the  north  one-fourth  mile, 
encountered  the  same  stratum.  Calcareous  spots  (black  lands) 
are  common  in  the  near-by  fields.  One  mile  to  the  east  a  yel- 
lowish gray  concretionary  boulder  was  found  in  a  bank  by  the 
roadside  (Marthaville-Fort  Jessup  road),  containing  cross-sec- 
tions of  the  shell  of  Cardium  ttwmeyi  (^? ') .  Still  further  east- 
ward, about  one  mile,  ferruginous  layers  by  the  roadside  show 
casts  of  lyignitic  species. 

This  is  doubtless  the  locality  referred  to  by  Hopkins  in  his 
second  annual  report  (p.  10),  as  at  Mr.  Dillard's  place,  five  miles 
north  of  Ft.  Jessup.  He  says  it  consists  almost  entirely  of  the 
remains  of  Ostrea  georgiaiia,  an  immense  oyster  found  only  in 
the  latest  Jackson  beds.  He  was  therefore  quite  mistaken  as 
regards  the  species  of  oyster  here  represented  as  well  as  in 
horizon. 

King' s  salt  works. — We  can  scarcely  doubt,  from  the  state- 
ments of  Hilgard,  that  here  are  to  be  found  Cretaceous  beds  not 
far  beneath  the  surface.  As  early  as  1869*  he  reports  the  find- 
ing of  GyphcBa  pitcheri  and  Exogyra  costata  in  some  old  well  bor- 
ings in  the  "  Salines  of  North  Louisiana,"  though  no  particular 
well    or  locality  is    mentioned.     In  his  final  report,   however, 

*  Am.  Journal  Sci.  vol  48,  p.  342. 


64  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

he  definitely  states  that  these  characteristic  fossils  came  from 
King's  salt  works,  S.  35,  15  N.,  8  W. 

Vaughan*  has  recently  shown  that  Hilgard  was  mistaken  in 
his  identification  G.  pitcheri,  it  being  a  Comanche  stage  fossil, 
while  the  deposits  with  E.  costata  must  be  Upper  Cretaceous. 
Yet  Vaughan  did  not  suggest  what  Hilgard's  G.  pitcheri  really 
was.  We  know  now  from  the  collections  made  at  the  place  by 
Veatch  that  this  species  is  no  other  than  O.  p2{laske?isis,  Har.,  a 
typical  Midway  Eocene  species. 

Hilgard  properly  describes  the  rocks  from  which  these  shells 
were  obtained  as  a  soft  gra}-,  calcareous  mass.  In  fact  it  is  most 
strikingly  similar  to  the  basal  Eocene  beds  around  Prairie  bluff, 
and  Snow  hill,  Alabama. 

He  remarks  :  "  A  few  hundred  yards  northward  of  the  lick, 
there  is  a  dug  well  20  feet  deep  in  which  a  similar  rock  was 
struck  at  5  feet,  which  became  harder  as  the  depth  increased,  and 
had  to  be  blasted.  The  rock  now  lying  near  the  well  is  a  rather 
hard,  crystalline  limestone,  full  of  debris  of  shells  ;  a  great 
many  perfect  ones  were  found  in  digging  ;  one  described  to  me 
must  have  been  a /a/z/ra.  No  salt  water  w^as  obtained  in  this 
well." 

Other  localities. — That  the  above  two  were  the  only  places  in 
Louisian?  -vhere  Midway  or  Lowest  ICocene  beds  outcrop,  seems 
very  improbable.  Black  land  areas  reported  from  Mansfield 
westward  ma}^  possibly  owe  their  origin  to  the  calcareousness  of 
this  stage.  Another  place  that  must  be  looked  up  shortly  is  on 
the  Soda  lake  where  CoUinsf  reports  "  Natdilus  dekayi''  half- 
way between  Albany  and  Henderson's  mills. 

LiGNiTic  Stage 

Preliminary  Remarks 

The  presence  of  this  stage  west  of  the  Mississippi  has  been 
suspected  ever  since  its  differentiation,  and  its  true  relationships 
to  the  other  Eocene  stages  was  worked  out  along  the  river  courses 
in  Alabama. 


*Amer.  GeoL  vol.  15,  p.  207. 

t43dCon.,  1st  sess.  Ho.  Ex.  Doc.  voL  2,  pt.  2,  p.  661,  iSyj. 


19  Hovd      -vl 'HHvaa  aiHDOoo  Ni  naaiMix 


66i,'l   'iHOdaH    'VXVISIilOl    AO   AHAHnS    TVDIOO-IOHO 


•^•^-^"•^^-"--^^  «^^-^-^^^^^^^^<-^'«»^^^ 


rVKor.ocitAT.  Si;kvi;v  on  Loimsiana,  Re.roRT,  1899 


I'l.ATK  4 


Topograthic  Sketch  M'P'f  Many  ToH.nsMp 
pv  A.  C.  \EAJcb 


II]  General  Geology  :    Lignitic   Eocene  65 

Certain  sandy  and  cla3'ey  layers  containing  more  or  less  lig- 
nitic  matter,  but  without  animal  fossil  remains,  lying  geograph- 
ically between  the  Midwaj'  and  Lower  Claiborne  outcrops  in 
Texas  and  Arkansas,  have  been  provisionally  referred  to  this 
stage.  Lines  of  demarcation,  however,  between  this  and  higher 
Eocene  stages,  have  been  difficult  to  locate  insomuch  as  materials 
lithologically  similar  occur  in  this  and  man}'  of  the  higher  beds. 

We  have  already  seen  how  in  Louisiana  these  beds  have  been 
given  a  special  name,  "the  Mansfield  Group,"  and  correlated 
with  the  beds  at  the  base  of  the  Vicksburg  blufi",  then  with  the 
Jackson  stage,  and  afterwards  with  some  pre-Jackson  horizon. 

Definite  proof  of  the  position  these  beds  occupy  was  first  given 
in  Bulletins  of  American  Paleontology,  vol.  2,  p.  202,  1897. 
The  locality  there  discussed, — Sabinetown,  Tex., — has  been 
revisited  by  members  of  this  survey'  and  now  can  be  discussed  in 
detail. 

Areal  Distribution 

The  Map. — The  area  represented  on  the  map  as  belonging  to 
this  stage  may  have  its  boundaries  somewhat  modified  by  subse- 
quent investigation.  But  it  certainly  repsesents  the  truth  with 
a  fair  degree  of  accuracy'.  To  this  survey  belongs  the  credit  of 
identifj'ing  or  proving  the  existence  of  the  Lower  Lignitic,  in 
this  State  hy  means  of  fossil  remains,  and  being  able  to  sa}-  pos- 
itively that  there  is  a  southern  peninsula-like  extension  of  this 
stage  in  Louisiana  between  the  Red  and  Sabine  rivers. 

Localities 

Pendleton. — Along  the  Sabine  river  the  best  outcrops  are  seen 
on  the  Texas  side.  Yet  since  they  throw  such  a  vast  amount  of 
light  on  the  geology  of  Louisiana, — for  the  same  beds  must 
occur  east  of  the  river  though  covered  by  detritus, — it  seems 
highly  desirable  to  insert  them  here  in  detail  form. 

The  following  section  may  be  seen  one- fourth  mile  above  the 
ferry,  just  above  the  mouth  of  a  small  bayou. 

9.     Light  gray  to  brownish  laminated  clay 7.5  ft. 

8.     Ledge  of  impure  limestone  concretions 2.5  ft. 

7.     Greenish  brown  and  light  blue  clayey  sand,  with  iron 

concretions  and  fossils 4- 5  ft. 


66  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

6.      Blue  joint  clay,  fossiliferous 2.5  ft. 

5.     lyimestons  boulders,  fossiliferous,  in  dark  gray  sand .    i      ft. 

4.  Dark  gray  sand 2      ft, 

3.  Stratified  lignitic  clay i      ft. 

2.     Yellow  and  gray  sand 5      ft. 

1.  Wav}',  alternate  layers  of  blue  sand  and  clay    6      ft. 

Water-level. 

The  dip  is  here  to  the  westward  about  i  to  50. 
The  main  Pendleton  bluff,  just  above  the  ferry,   is  about  as 
follows  : 

5.  Red  sand 15 — 20  ft. 

4.  Light  gray  and  brown  laminate  clay 5 — 15  ft. 

3       Ledge  of  limestone  and  sandstone  boulders 2 —  3  ft. 

2.  Light  blue  sandy  clay,  with  fossils  and  iron  con- 

cretions       5  ft. 

1.  Wavy  alternate  layers  of  dark  sand  and  clay.  ...  8  ft. 
Fossils  are  numerous  at  each  of  these  exposures,  but  are  some- 
what better  preserved  in  the  first  mentioned  section.  They 
include  (as  may  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  paleontology  of  the 
Lignitic  Stage)  such  typical  lower  Eocene  species  as  Levifusus 
siipraplaiius ,  Buccina7iops  ellipticum,  T2irritella  prcrcinda,  Natica 
aperia,  N.  alabamiensis,  Solarium  bellense  and  Pleurotoma  silicata, 
leaving  no  doubt  as  to  the  horizon  they  represent  in  the  Alabama 
.section. 

Stone  coal  bluff. — Down  the  river  about  half  way  from 
Pendleton  to  Sabinetown,  but  on  the  Louisiana  side  there  is  a 
3  ft.  ledge  of  lignite  cropping  out  near  water  level.  It  is  over- 
laid by  gray  sands  of  recent  river  origin.  (See  under  Lignite, 
Economic  Geology.) 

Salt  licks. — About  ^  mile  northeast  of  this  lignite  outcrop, 
are  extensive  salt  licks  where  formerly  large  quantities  of  salt 
were  made.      (See  further  under  Economic  Geol. — Salt.) 

Slaughter's  creek  lignite — This  is  located  on  S.  W.  %,  S.  35, 
6  N.,  13  W.  The  beds  associated  with  the  lignite  are  as  follows  : 
4.     Reddish  sandy  surface  loam i   ft. 

3.  Alternate  laminate  of  chocolate  clay  and  gray  sand.  .  .  .9  ft. 

2.  Lignite 4  ft. 

I .     Gray  clay  to  water  level i   ft. 


n]  General  Geology  :   Lignitic  Eocene  67 

(See  further  under  Econ.  Geol. — Lignite.) 

Sabinetow7i. — A  short  distance  below  the  ferry  on  the  Texas 
side  of  the  Sabine  there  is  a  most  interesting  section,  not  only 
for  the  light  that  it  sheds  on  the  geology  of  west  Louisiana,  but 
also  for  the  various  horizons  to  which  its  beds  have  been 
referred.      (See  under  Hilgard,  Historic  review.) 

Putting  aside  the  past,  we  proceed  at  once  to  a  detailed 
description  of  this  classic  locality. 

This  bluff  is  from  115  to  120  feet  high,  counting  from  the 
surface  of  the  river  at  a  medium  stage  of  water.  It  is  located  on 
a  bend  of  the  river  where  the  latter  pursues  a  nearly  east-west 
direction.  Though  the  dip  is  locally  very  considerable  here  as 
shown  in  little  side  gorges  often  J^  south,  it  appears  slight 
along  the  bluff  as  a  whole,  for  the  direction  of  the  latter  is 
nearly  on  the  line  of  strike. 

The  main  features  of  the  various  component  strata  are  as  follows : 

8.     Sands  and  ferruginous  conglomerates 9-16  ft. 

7.     Ferruginous  sandstone i    ft. 

6.     Eignitic  clay 15    ft. 

5.     Yellow  sand 25    ft. 

4.     More  or  less  alternating  shaly  lignitic  clay  and  sand. 
The  latter  weathering  yellowish  ;    the  shaly  clay 

sometimes  light  brown  or  pinkish 40   ft. 

3.     More  or  less  clayey  sand,  often  greenish  and  fossilifer- 

ous  in  concretions  ;  with  a  hard  layer  above 15    ft. 

2.     Fossiliferous  blue  sand  with  concretions 6    ft. 

I.     Brittle,  shaly,  drab  clay 2    ft. 

We  have  only  to  glance  at  the  fossils  to  be  impressed  with  the 
almost  perfect  likeness  they  bear  to  the  Woods  bluff  beds  in 
Alabama.  Some  have  already  been  figures  in  Bulletins  of 
American  Paleontology  and  others  may  be  found  elsewhere  in 
this  report.  (See  Paleontology  the  Lignite  stage.)  The  best 
fossils  are  found  in  the  greenish  sandy  layer  at  the  west  end  of 
bluff,  just  east  of  where  a  little  stream  empties  into  the  river. 

Low' s  creek. — One  and  one-half  mile  to  the  south  of  Sabine- 
town  bluff  in  the  bed  of  Low's  creek  at  the  ford,  Lower  Claiborne 
fossils  are  found.  But  beneath  the  same  in  what  is  presumably 
Lignitic    material,   a  vast     number  of    Pedens    cornuus    occur. 


68  Geological   Survey  of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

The  beds  at  the  water-mill  are  of  this  lower  layer.  They  are 
replete  with  oolitic  iron  ore,  greenish  when  freshly  exposed,  red- 
dish when  weathered. 

Vicinity  of  Negrect  P.O. — In  stream  beds  about  Negreet  a 
bluish,  sandy,  lignitic  clay  is  now  and  then  to  be  seen.  But  the 
most  prominent  exposures,  as  at  the  church  and  cross-roads 
N.  W.  of  the  P.O.,  show  beds  of  sand  with  ferruginous,  shaly 
partings.  Mr.  Harvy  Gandey's  place  shows  in  several  localities 
the  very  sandy  layers  just  mentioned,  together  with  large  ferru- 
ginous chunks,  or  rock  fragments,  reddish  for  the  most  part, 
but  with  pockets  of  yellowish  limonite.  In  digging  a  well  on 
his  place  some  20  years  ago,  Mr.  G.  found  fossil  shells  in  abun- 
dance. This  fact  should  be  borne  in  mind  by  residents  of  this 
community,  for  the  very  sand}'  series  of  the  uplands  could  be 
improved  by  the  application  of  the  calcareous  material  obtained 
from  these  fossiliferous  marh'  deposits. 

It  is  to  be  regretted-that  the  survey  has  not  yet  obtained  the 
analyses  of  soils  taken  from  the  bottom  lands  of  this  place. 
They  must  be  reserved  for  the  next  ^^ear's  report.  The  pecul- 
iarity which  they  should  show,  however,  is  the  nature  of  the 
saline  efflorescence  wdiich  oozes  up  from  below,  making  in  con- 
junction with  the  sand  that  accompanies  them  the  regular  low 
hillocks  or  mounds,  that  characterize  many  of  the  fiat  regions 
of  this  and  other  southern  states. 

On  Mr.  Henderson's  place,  4  miles  N.  N.  E-  of  Mr.  Gaudy's, 
on  the  Many-Sabinetown  road,  marine  shells  are  said  to  have 
been  found  in  considerable  quantities. 

Vicinity  of  Many. — The  accompanying  map  shows  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  region  well,  viz.:  broad,  flat  bottoms,  and  steepl)' 
sloping,  much  carved  uplands.  The  valle}-s  seem  to  owe  their 
shape  more  to  the  filling  up  of  a  young  V-shaped  valley  result- 
ing from  a  change  in  the  position  of  the  base  level  than  by  the 
excavating  action  of  the  present  streams.  Along  the  stream 
beds,  bluish  or  blackish  sandy  clays  now  and  then  appear  ;  but 
the  commoner  beds  exposed  are  clays  and  light  colored  sands. 
At  one  place,  in  the  bank  of  Tar  river  at  the  Devil's  backbone, 
a  thin  bed  of  lignite  occurs.  Here  and  there  are  light  yellowish, 
concretionary  calcareous  boulders,  containing  sometimes  leaves, 


II]  General  Geology  :  IvIgnitic   Eocene  69 

as  seen  in  those  thrown  out  in  the  cuts  of  the  R.  R.,  perhaps 
1%  miles  southeast  of  Many,  sometimes  marine  shells  (generally 
Ve7iericardia  planicosta)  as  seen  in  the  boulders  near  Tar  river, 
south  of  Many  and  in  others  from  near  Ft.  Jessup. 

Lagoon  and  off-shore  conditions  evidently  alternated  geograph- 
ically and  stratigraphically  during  the  deposition  of  these  beds. 
Layers  of  lignite  are  reported  from  various  places  in  this 
vicinity. 

Casts  of  fossils  are  fairly  abundant  in  the  dark  sandy  mica- 
ceous clay  on  La  Nana  bayou,  as  it  crosses  the  29-30  section 
line.  This  material  is  strangely  similar  to  the  lower  Eocene 
beds  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  most  characteristic  fossil 
species  are  :  Turritella  mortoni,  I  ^olutilithcs  peirosiis,  Pleurotoma 
siphus,  Astarte  smithvellensis,  var.  Venericardia  plaiiecosta,  Pseu- 
doliva,  sp.      (See  further  under  Paleontology,  Lignitic  Stage.) 

In  the  little  ravines  or  washouts  near  the  Many  school-house 
castsof  several  lignitic  species  of  mollusca  are  found.  They  are 
embedded  in  indurate  ferruginous,  crust-like  layers  of  argilla- 
ceous concretions.  Similar  beds  were  noticed  for  a  mile  or  more 
to  the  southeast  of  this  locality.  Such  casts  are  also  abundant 
in  the  S.  E,  %  of  the  S.  W,  %  of  Sec.  13  near  Jerusalem  Church. 
Just  across  the  township  line  in  Sec.  19,  7  N.,  10  W.  shells  have 
been  found  in  a  well. 

Ft.  Jessup. — In  this  locality  many  yellowish  concretionary 
boulders  are  to  be  seen.  In  fact  the  rocks  that  were  used  in  con- 
structing the  Fort  were  of  this  character.  We  observed  none  con- 
taining plant  remains.  They  were  either  barren  or  with  traces  of 
molluscan  life.  A  fragment  picked  up  at  the  old  Fort  contained 
a  perfect  mass  of  a  small  univalves.  Another  fragment  found 
nearby  contained  many  ]^encricardia  planicosta. 

Just  to  the  east  of  the  village  Rocky  creek  sets  in  and 
extends  nearly  by  the  Williams  place.  Its  banks  are  high  and 
precipitous  and  afford  the  best  view  of  the  geology  of  the  region 
yet  seen.  The  characteristic  or  predominating  material  is  dark 
clayey  sand  or  sandy  clay  containing  shining  particles  of  mica 
and  quartz. 

On  the  Williams  place  perhaps  one  mile  east  of  the  Fort, 
several    fossiliferous  boulders  were  seen.     In  the    banks    of  a 


yo  Geological   Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

stream,  several  imprints  of  marine  fossils  were  found,  including 
Turritella  hiinierosa,  and  what  seem  to  be  fragments  of  Volutili- 
thes petrosiis  and  small  fusoid  forms. 

Going  eastward  along  the  road  to  Robeline  one  sees  several 
hill-slopes  with  light  sands  and  clays,  the  latter  apparently  of  a 
good  grade  for  pottery,  and  ledges  of  rock  (3^  miles  from  Robe- 
line,  on  what  is  called  Kirkam  or  Rock  Chimney  hill),  remark- 
able for  the  size  of  the  lenticular  or  irregular  shape  concretions 
they  contain. 

Robelme. — A  good  potters'  clay  has  been  worked  2^  miles 
east  of  Robeline  on  the  Carter  place.  It  is  yellowish  and  quite 
sandy,  but  is  very  hard  and  tough  to  pick.  Some  6,000  flower- 
pots and  many  jugs  were  made  here  a  few  years  ago.  There  is 
a  considerable  difference  in  the  amount  of  sandy  material  inter- 
mixed in  the  various  clays  seen  outcropping  in  this  vicinity  and 
the  so-called  sassafras  clays  have  been  extensively  used  for  bricks 
without  the  admixture  of  sands  or  clays  from  other  strata.  Mr. 
Ponder  S.  Carter  has  charge  of  this  estate  at  present.  He  very 
kindly  donated  to  the  Survey  a  flower-pot  and  jug  made  from 
these  clays. 

Along  the  railroad  track  towards  Victoria  mills  numerous  cuts 
are  seen  exhibiting  the  Lignitic  clays  to  good  advantage.  Lerch 
has  given  figures  of  two  of  these  in  his  2d  report  on  the  hills 
of  N.  Louisiana  (p.  76).  One  shows  two  seams  of  Lignite. 
This  Survey  (1899),  found  numerous  traces  of  marine  mollusks 
in  some  of  these  layers.  Near  Victoria  Mills  the  Lignitic  strata 
pass  beneath  those  of  Lower  Claiborne  age. 

Natchitoches. — The  best  display  of  Lignitic  strata  in  this 
vicinity  is  at  Grand  Ecore.  But  beds  of  a  similar  character  crop 
out  on  Cane  river  just  north  of  the  town.  They  are  there  over- 
laid by  fossiliferous  Claiborne  deposits. 

(For  illustration  of  this  bluff,  see  special  report  on  Natchito- 
ches area.) 

The  larger  part  of  the  upland  of  this  township  is  underlaid  by 
sandy  and  clayey  deposits  of  the  Lignitic  stage.  There  appears 
to  be  far  less  calcareous  matter  in  these  deposits  than  was 
observed  in  those  of  the  same  age  about  Many.  (See  further 
under  special  article  on  Natchitoches  area.) 


II]  General  Geology:    Lignitic   Eocene  71 

Grand  Ecore. — Hopkins  visited  this  section  as  early  as  1869  and 
published  a  section  of  its  beds  in  his  first  annual,    1870,   p.  86. 

The  beds  with  their  estimated  thicknesses  as  they  appear  just 
above  the  landing,  or  terminus  of  the  R.  R.  track  are  as  follows  : 
10.     Sand  with  quartz  pebbles 10  ft. 

9.     Orange-colored  sand,  with  white  clay-ball  concretions.  10  ft. 

8.     Yellow  sand 2  ft. 

7.     Colored  (greenish)  clays 3  ft. 

6.     Finely  laminated,  light,  yellowish,  clayey  sand 18  ft. 

5.     Brown,  black-banded,  lignitic  sand 9  ft. 

4.     Black  and  gray  sand  and  sandy  clay 6  ft. 

3.     Lignite 20  in. 

2.     Black  clay  shale 2  ft. 

I.     Grayish  sand  or  sandy  clay 5  ft. 

Water  level. 
The  face  of  the  bluff  farther  upstream,  as   well  as  the  top  of 
the   low   bluffs  below,  show  many    large    light    yellowish  con- 
cretions. 

Cedar  bluff. — Nearly  east  of  Grand  Ecore,  on  the  Saline 
bayou,  not  far  to  the  north  of  Congo,  P.  O.,  on  the  land  of  Mr. 
John  Kieffer  is  an  escarpment  commonly  known  as  Cedar  bluff, 
which  seems  to  show  practically  the  same  series  of  lignitic  sands 
as  have  just  been  enumerated  under  Grand  Ecore.  The  bed  of 
lignite  here,  however,  is  below  water  level,  except  at  extreme 
low  stages.  It  has  been  dug  in  small  quantities  and  used  locally. 
It  is  evidently  the  same  as  the  seam  noted  in  the  Grand  Ecore 
bluff,  but  is  of  a  decidedly  better  qualit5^  remaining  in  large 
cuboidal  masses  or  chunks  after  having  been  exposed  to  the  air 
for  months. 

Cedar  bluff  is  particularly  rich  in  Indian  relics.  A  walk  of  a 
few  mimutes  over  any  plowed  field  is  sufficient  for  the  collection 
of  hands  full  of  fragments  of  pottery. 

About  a  mile  to  the  south  of  the  bluff  on  the  St.  Maurice  road 
a  Lower  Claiborne  prairie  is  struck,  which  shows  the  character- 
istic marine  molluscan  species  and  fragments  of  light  yellowish 
limestone. 

Marthaville . — A  cut  on  the  railroad  at  this  place  shows  very 
large,  hard,  light  yellowish  calcareous  boulders.     They  are  char- 


72  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

acterizedby  a  Lower  Lignitic  fauna  including  Osirea  thirscc  var., 
Levi/usus  iyidentiis,  and  other  species  characteristic  of  this 
horizon. 

Specimens  from  Sodus,  from  concretions  presumably  of  the 
same  horizon  were  scarcely  identifiable. 

One  the  north-east  one-fourth  of  Section  2,  9  N.,  12  W. 
Sabine  parish,  mineral  water  is  obtained  from  Ferrell's  well. 
Dr.  J.  H.  Mumford  collected  several  ferruginous,  clay  concre- 
tions near  this  well  that  show  an  interesting,  though  poorly 
preserved  marine  fauna.  \'enericardia  planicosta,  Yoldia  kindlei, 
Vohdilithes  pctrosus,  Calyptraphorus ,  Levifusics  Plenrotonia 
silicata,  and  other  Pieurotonice ,  seemingly  of  a  lowest  Lignitic 
or  Midway  aspect. 

Mansfield. — This  region  was  first  described  geologically  bj' 
Hilgard  in  1869  and  much  more  fully  by  the  same  author  in 
1873.  He  called  particular  attention  to  the  limestone,  concre- 
tionary layers  so  often  seen  in  this  portion  of  the  State,  and  con- 
cluded from  the  fact  that  they  contain  fossil  leaves  that  they 
were  of  fresh  water  origin.  This  seemed  such  a  departure 
from  the  ordinary  run  of  lignitic  Tertiary  beds  that  he  gave  a 
new  name  to  the  group  of  sands  and  clays  containing  these  con- 
cretions, calling  them  the  Mansfield  group.  (See  further  under 
Historic  review.) 

The  nature  of  the  material  that  underlies  the  soils  in  this  gen- 
eral region  is  well  shown  by  the  following  section  made  from  an 
outcrop  in  the  gorge  just  west  of  the  town. 

5.     Soil  and  red  sand 5  ft. 

4.     Sand  with  iron  streaks    10  ft. 

3.     Sand  with  a  few  light  bluish  clay  streaks 5  ft. 

2.     Very  light,  or  yellowish  calcareous  concretions 2  ft. 

I.     Sandy,  laminated,  sands,  with  iron  streaks  above  ;  light 

sands,  medially  ;  bluish  laminated  clays  below 30  ft. 

As  might  be  anticipated  by  the  character  of  the  rocks  exposed 
in  this  section,  the  hill  land  about  Mansfield  is  decidedly  sandy. 
But  there  are  broad  bottom  lands  adjacent  to  stream  courses,  of 
a  more  clayey  and  loamy  character,  and  very  productive.  To  the 
southwest  and  west,  calcareous  black  land  prairies  are  reported. 

At   Logansport  on  the  Sabine  extensive  deposits  of  lignite  are 


II]      General  Geology  :    Lower  Claiborne  Eocene      73 

described.  Hilgard  has  noted  similar  beds  in  the  Dolet  hill. 
In  fact,  outcrops  of  this  substance  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
this  part  of  the  State,  and  we  are  prepared  to  reaffirm  Hilgard' s 
statement  ' '  that  lignitic  strata  crop  out  on  both  sides  of  the 
dividing  ridge  from  Pleasant  hill  to  Mansfield,  towards  Shreve- 
port. 

Various  estimates  are  given  as  to  the  thickness  and  character 
of  these  lignite  beds.  The  whole  subject  must  be  taken  up 
systematically  and  monographed  in  some  future  annual  report. 

Grand  Ca7ie. — Going  north  from  Mansfield,  numerous  arena- 
ceous deposits  are  seen  along  the  roadside,  some  showing  flow 
and  plunge  structure.  Post-oak  fiats  with  mounds  are  here 
extensive.  Red  iron-stone  concretions  are  here  and  there  abun- 
dant. Yellowish  concretionary  limestone  was  noticed  often  near 
Grand  Cane. 

Stonewall. — Calcareous  limestone  boulders  and  lignite  are 
noticed  about  Stonewall.  The  soil  and  topographic  features  are 
similar  to  those  around  Mansfield  and  Shreveport. 

Shrevepori. — (See  special  report  on  this  area  included  in  this 
report.) 

lyOWER    Claiborne   Stage 
Preliminary  Remarks 

The  beds  that  belong  to  this  stage  have  been  referred  by  the 
earlier  writers  on  Louisiana  geology  to  the  ' '  Vicksburg, "  "  Jack- 
son," "  Mansfield,"  groups  or  stages,  as  it  is  stated  in  our  His- 
torical review  (see  Hilgard  and  Hopkins,  Reconnaissance  Period). 

After  a  better  understanding  of  the  inter-relationship  of  the 
Eocene  deposits  east  of  the  Mississippi  was  worked  out,  chiefly 
in  Alabama  by  Smith  and  Aldrich,  references  were  made  to  the 
"  Claiborne  "  of  Louisiana.* 

To  Hon.  T.  H.  Aldrich  of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  science  is 
mainly  indebted  for  the  recognition  of  this  stage  in  Louisiana. 
It  was  he  to  whom  many  of  the  fossils  collected  by  Johnson  in 
1885  were  submitted. 

With  his  aid,  Johnson  was  able  to  state  in  his   report  on  the 

*  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States,  1883,  p.  554. 


74  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

iron  ore  of  L,ouisiana  and  Texas,  that  it  is  the  lower  portion  of 
the  Claiborne  group  of  strata  that  occurs  in  Louisiana  and  Texas. 
He  properly  refers  a  portion  at  least  of  the  St.  Maurice  bluff  to 
this  horizon.  Also  the  bluff  at  Natchitoches,  and  many  local- 
ities in  Bienville,  Claiborne,  Webster,  and  Bossier  parishes  were 
properly  arranged  under  this  stage. 

It  has  remained  for  this  survey  to  rectify  the  work  of  former 
reconnaissances  west  of  Red  river. 

Areal  Distribution 

The  map. — All  along  the  northern  tier  of  counties,  from  the 
Dorchite  to  the  Onachita  there  may  be  uplifts  of  beds  belonging 
to  the  Lignitic  stage,  for  molluscan  remains  are  generally  want- 
ing in  these  parts.  The  general  trend  of  the  various  geological 
stages  of  this  part  of  the  State  would  indicate  that  all  this  terri- 
tory is  Lower  Claiborne  as  mapped. 

The  doubtful  area  about  Shreveport  has  been  elsewhere  dis- 
cussed.     (See  Shreveport  area.) 

Otherwise  the  mapping  of  the  Lower  Claiborne  may  be 
regarded  as  approximately  correct. 

Localities 
(Sabine   parish) 

Low' s  creek  belozv  Sabinetown,  Tex. — This  locality  has  already 
been  referred  to  in  connection  with  the  Lignitic  stage.  At  the 
ford  perhaps  one-fourth  mile  below  the  water  mill  on  this 
creek,  ledges  of  Lower  Claiborne  calcareous  rock  occur,  char- 
acterized, among  other  fossils  b}'   Ostrea  falciformis. 

Lower  Negreet. — Near  the  mouth  of  this  bayou  there  is  a  cross 
bedded  conglomerate,  very  ferruginous  and  rough  in  appearance 
with  quartz  pebbles  and  clayey  and  glauconitic  nodules,  contain- 
ing fossils  of  this  stage.  A  bed  of  white  quartz  sand  8  ft.  thick 
lies  above  this  conglomerate.  Almost  nothing  of  the  salt-works 
that  once  were  in  operation  a  mile  or  so  farther  up  stream  could 
be  found.  It  appears  that  some  of  the  wells  were  in  the  bed  of 
the  bayou.     One  old  shaft  was  seen  on  the  left  bank. 

According  to  Mr.  Dan'l  Vandegaer  the  process  of  obtaining 
salt  here  was  usually  as  follows  :    Hollow  cypress  logs  were  sunk 


II]      General  Geology:    Lower   Claiborne  Eocene      75 

vertically  in  the  bayou  over  the  places  where  the  saline  water 
seemed  to  rise  ;  these  were  cut  off  at  such  a  length  as  to  be 
always  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  contents  of  the  logs 
was  pumped  out  and  run  off  in  kettles  and  evaporated  to  salt. 

The  light  blue  clayc}^  beds  around  the  shaft  just  mentioned 
and  in  a  little  rivulet  close  by,  contained  some  very  imperfectly 
preserved  marine  shells.  Nothing  was  found  to  lead  us  to  sup- 
pose that  the  deposits  hereabouts  were  other  than  Lower  Clai- 
borne where  the  general  stratigraphy  of  this  region  would  place 
them.  Quite  a  large  tract,  several  acres,  was  noticed  not  far 
from  the  north  bank  of  the  bayou   nearly  devoid  of  vegetation. 

Simpkhi' s place . — Mention  has  already  been  made  of  Lignitic 
strata  occurring  along  streams  to  the  southeast  of  Negreet  P.  O. 
The  hill  or  ridges  are  often  strewn  with  ferruginous  sandstone 
chunk  showing  within  limonite  nodules.  Near  the  northern 
border  of  the  Simpkins'  place  a  tj-pical  "  black-land  "  soil  is 
found,  ver}'  calcareous,  showing  boulders  of  light  A-ellow  lime- 
stone and  many  marine  fossils.  Some  collected  are :  Osb'ea 
falciformis,  O.  Johnsoni,  an  Orbitolite,  Peden,  Cypr^za,  and  Tjir- 
ritellacarinata.  Near  Mr.  Simpkins'  house  the  fields  are  some- 
times almost  covered  with  red  ferruginous  chunks.  Yet  these 
fields  are  said  to  bear  fine  crops.  The  reason  is  very  evident. 
These  ferruginous  rock  fragments  are  before  exposure,  as  when 
first  obtained  in  digging  a  well,  of  a  grayish  greenish  or  bluish  hue 
and  are  replete  with  marine  organic  remains.  It  is  the  leaching  of 
this  material,  calcareous  and  glauconitic,  that  supplies  the  soil 
with  the  elements  that  it  needs  in  plant  production. 

The  red  color  is  simply  due  to  oxidation  of  the  iron  already 
in  this  material  though  in  a  different  chemical  combination  and 
of  a  different  color. 

From  the  general  lay  of  the  land  we  assume  that  these  exces- 
sively ferruginous  layers  are  higher  stratigraphically  than  the 
"black  lands"  with  their  limestone  boulders  mentioned  above. 
Certain  it  is  that  above  these  ferruginous  layers,  come  sandy 
beds  some  30  feet  or  more  in  thickness,  capped  with  large  rough 
and  micaceous  sandstone  chunks.  The  latter  seem  to  be  desti- 
tute of  organic  remains. 

This    particular  calcareous    and    red  land  belt  extends,    with 


76  Geological  Survey   of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

some  few  interruptions,  from  near  the  mouth  of  the  Negreet 
to  Natchitoches. 

Leech  neighborhood. — Going  towards  Many  from  Simpkins' 
place,  one  follows  nearly  the  trend  of  the  red  lands.  But  they 
are  often  obscured  by  the  overlj'ing  sandstone  deposits  men- 
tioned above. 

Near  the  Church  and  again  in  the  Leech  community  some  of  the 
fields  are  of  an  astonishingly  red  color,  and  the  red  rock  frag- 
ments seem  to  cover  the  fields.  Likewise  on  toward  the  east,  by 
Jas.  Leech's,  the  red  beds  are  very  strongly  developed.  Perhaps 
one-fourth  mile  east  of  the  last  mentioned  place  fragments  of 
slightly  yellowish  white  limestone  occur  in  a  little  depression 
that  crosses  the  Many  road.  This  is  associated  with  a  few  feet 
of  whitish  marl,  as  at  Natchitoches.  About  7  miles  from  Many, 
or  2  miles  N.  E.  of  Jas.  Leech's,  the  red  lands  cease  abrupth'  on 
the  Many  road,  and  the  Lignitic  sands,  with  slight  but  constant 
slope  to  the  south,  furnish  broad  expanses  on  which  flourishes 
the  long-leaf  pine.  About  the  sole  associate  of  the  latter  seems 
to  be  the  hardy  ill-formed  black-jack  oak. 

There  are  occasional  abrupt  descents  to  the  north  where  the 
edges  of  the  southward  dipping  strata  come  near  the  surface. 
Some  of  these  beds  are  clayey,  wet  and  cold.  They  are  charac- 
terized by  the  usual  varieties  of  oak  and  short-leaved  pine.  Then 
another  sand-covered  gentle  slope  to  the  south  occurs  whereon 
luxuriates  the  long-peaf  pine. 

South  of  Many. — The  railroad  cuts  south  of  Many  are 
referred  to  in  several  places  in  this  report. 

For  some  distance  they  show  nothing  but  sands  and  clays  of 
the  Lignitic  period.  But,  perhaps  4  miles  south  of  the  station, 
the  Lower  Clairborne  beds  come  in  showing  a  marked  uncon- 
formity with  the  Lignitic  strata  below. 

Fossiliferous  red  lands  were  seen  by  Veatch  two  miles  still 
farther  south  on  the  same  railroad. 


(Natchitoches  Parish) 

Victoria  Mills. — Indurated  calcareous  beds  crop  out  in  the  log 
tram-way  back  of  these  mills.     From  a   soft  layer    below  these 


II]      General  Geology  :    Lower  Claiboene  Eocene      77 

beds  a  sack  of  marl  was  obtained   for  analysis,  but  has  not   5'et 
been  reported  upon. 

The  hill  back  of  the  mills  contains  several  ledges  of  Ostrea 
falciformis  in  impure  limestone. 

Provencal. — A  very  typical  lyower  Claiborne  exposure  occurs 
on  the  north  side  of  the  R.  R.  track  about  one-half  mile  west  of 
Provencal. 

Ostrea  falciformis  is  in  great  abundance  associated  with  a 
small  Orbitolite,  and  imbedded  in  a  light  yellow  clay  marl.  The 
region  has  the  usual  calcareous-land  flora. 

Other  local  beds  of  ' '  red  land  "  or  "  black  land  ' '  were  seen 
or  heard  of  about  Provencal.  Railroad  cuts  were  examined  as 
far  castas  Robertsville,  where  an  interesting  and  fossiliferous  out- 
crop occurs.  Ferruginous  nodules  about  one-half  to  one  inch 
in  diameter  contain  Lucincc  and  large  numbers  of  Aira  rhomboi- 
dalis.  The  light  gra}'  clays  have  scarlet  red  blotches  as  at  several 
other  places. 

The  residual  soil  is  of  a  light  gray,  and  a  slightly  reddish  hue. 

Two  miles  south  of  Provencal,  on  the  Leesville  road,  the  same 
phase  of  the  Lower  Claiborne  is  met  as  seen  on  the  R.  R.  west 
of  Provencal  or  at  Natchitoches. 

Another  interesting  locality,  where  marl  and  shells  have  been 
reported,  is  at  a  Mr.  Stephen's  house,  half  waj-  between  Robe- 
line  and  Natchitoches.  The  localit3-was  not  visited  b}^  us,  hence 
we  are  unable  to  say  whether  it  belongs  to  the  Lignitic  or  Lower 
Claiborne  stage. 

Natchitoches. — (See  special  report  on  this  area.) 

Black  lake. — Small  black  land  prairies  covered  with  an  abun- 
dance of  03'ster  shells  are  very  common  in  Natchitoches  parish 
north  of  Black  lake. 

Section  4,  11  N.,  16  W. — Near  James  Thompson's  house,  two 
and  one-half  miles  north  of  Black  lake,  i  mile  west  of  Remj^ 
creek  and  south  of  the  Saline-Weaver's  ferry  road  is  a  small 
prairie  covered  with  Ostrea  falciforynis,  and  O.  johnsoyii.  It  is  on 
the  ver}^  crest  of  the  hill,  70  feet  above  the  surrounding  hollows 
and  90-120  feet  above  Black  lake.  Just  south  of  the  prairie 
and  6  feet  below  it  is  a  bed  of  quartz  and  chert  gravel.  The 
creek  west  of  the  knoll  shows  the  following  sections  : 


78  Geological   Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

1.  Ostrea  bed — top  of  hill 3  ft. 

2.  Greenish    gray    to    slate  colored  clayey  marl,  joining 

black  soil.  A  few,  poorly  preserved  shells  occur  in 
this  layer.  The  best  preserved  was  a  strongly 
ribbed  Corhila 50  ft. 

3.  Dark  brown  sand  with  plates  of  iron 8  ft. 

In  the  creek  east,  layer  3  was  not  seen.     In  the  creek  bed  are 

numerous  very  long  limestone  concretions.  The  sides  of  the 
hill  are  covered  with  gravel  and  furruginous  pebble  conglomerate 
and  sandstone,  but  in  no  place  did  the  gravel  unquestionably 
pass  under  the  marl. 

Similar  small  prairies  with  the  characteristic  oysters,  Ostrea 
falciformis,  and  O.  Johnsoni  var.,  occur  north  of  the  locality  at 
the  following  places  :  Sec.  5-8,  Sec  21-28,  12  N.,  6  W.  and  at 
Black  prairie  hill  N.  E-  ^4  Sec.  23,  13  N.,  7  W. 

(Winn    Parish) 

SI.  Maurice. — Here  the  Lower  Claiborne  beds  are  well 
exposed  on  the  left  bank  of  Saline  bayou  near  its  mouth.  Plate 
5  herewith  given  shows  well  the  most  important  features  of 
the  bluflf.  The  view  is  taken  looking  down-stream.  The  ledge 
in  the  baj'ou,  showing  a  steep  southerly  local  dip  is  composed  of 
reddish  cla}'  ironstone.  Then  succeed  5  feet  of  bluish,  blackish, 
or  brownish  barren  clays.  Above  are  blue  clays,  5  feet  with 
arenaceous  ferruginous  concretions.  Shells  are  abundant  in  this 
layer.  Still  higher  are  10  ft.,  of  brown,  brittle  clays  with 
yellow  flakes.  Finally,  the  upper  25  feet  of  the  bluff  are  composed 
of  brownish  laminated  sandy  clays,  becoming  lighter  in  color  and 
more  sandy  towards  the  top  of  the  bluff. 

The  character  of  these  underlying  beds  has  less  influence  over 
the  character  of  the  soils  in  this  region  than  might  at  first  be 
supposed,  for  they  are  often  concealed  by  Lafayette  sands 
and  gravels. 

Concerning  the  paleontology  of  this  locality  see  historical  part 
of  this  report,  p.  34  and  especially  next  year's  report. 

Between  this  locality  and  Wheeling  the  country  is  somewhat 
hilly  at  first  near  the  Red  river,  but  becomes  more  rolling  or 
level  to  the  east. 


II]      General   Geology  :     Lower  Claiborne  Eocene      79 

Rather  abrupt  ascents  and  descents  are  frequently  met  with 
between  St.  Maurice  and  Congo  P.  O.  In  these  regions  the  soil 
is  sandy  on  the  hills  but  more  clayey  in  the  bottoms.  A  mile 
or  so  north  of  Congo,  Lower  Claiborne  beds  are  met  with, 
characterized  by  white  limy  concretionary  lumps,  a  light 
5'ellowish  soil,  very  teuaceous  when  wet,  boulders  of  light  yel- 
lowish limestone,  with  fossils,  and  the  usual  scrubby  growth  of 
trees.  Some  beds  have  already  been  noted  on  p.  71  south  of 
Mr.  Kieffer's. 

Couley. — The  more  ferruginous  layers  of  the  Lower  Claiborne 
are  well  exposed  on  the  hills  near  Couley,  S.  10,  10  N.  5  W. 
In  the  stream  beds,  mau}^  exposures  of  bluish  claye)'  marl  were 
noticed  and  samples  were  collected  for  analysis. 

Coochie  brake. — East  of  Coochie  brake  the  summits  of  the 
hills  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  60-90  feet  above  the  brake  and 
show  now  and  then  great  masses  of  red  sandy  iron  ore  concre- 
tions, or  chunks  ;  but  no  fos.sils  were  observed  in  them.  The 
region  is  generally  sandy,  and  long-leaf  pine  is  abundant. 

Winyifield. — On  approaching  Winnfield  from  the  Brake,  after 
passing  over  long  stretch  of  fairly  level  country,  broken  now 
and  then  in  the  vicinity  of  streams,  a  somewhat  varied  region 
is  reached  about  8  miles  from  Winnfield.  It  is  not,  however, 
until  the  5  mile-board  is  nearly  reached  that  the  calcareous  red 
beds  crop  out  along  the  road.  There  are  here  veritable  red  lands, 
but  of  what  extent  it  is  not  possible  at  present  to  state. 
Similar,  though  far  less  fossiliferous  layers  are  found  within 
four  miles  of  Winnfield  in  the  road,  but  the  most  abundantly 
fossiliferous  layers  are  found  to  the  northward  towards  the 
"  Marble  "  quarry  (see    Fig.  3,   p.   57). 

About  Winnfield  no  traces  of  red  land  were  seen.  Good  brick 
clay,  however,  abounds,  and  the  Court  house  stands  as  a  witness 
of  the  good  quality  of  the  clay. 

Lerch,  notes  the  occurrence,  of  marl  and  "  rotten  shells  " 
in  the  material  thrown  out  in  digging  wells  in  this  vicinity . 

New  Hope  church. — About  one-half  mile  northwest  of  this 
church  (11  N.,  4  W.,  near  the  house  of  John  Neil),  numer- 
ous ferruginous  concretions  are  to  be  seen.  They  are  replete 
with  casts  and  impressions  of  a  small  gastropod  {Turritelld) . 


8o  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

Sparta- Moyitgomery  road,  24th  mile-board. — On  the  vSparta- 
Montgomery  road,  about  one-half  mile  south  of  24th  mile  board 
ferruginous  concretions  are  quite  abundant  at  the  road  side.  About 
a  fourth  of  a  mile  north  of  this  and  at  a  slightly  lower  level  there 
is  a  strip  of  black  land  exposing  large  yellow  limestone  boulders, 
in  every  way  similar  to  limestone  boulders  which  are  so  common 
on  the  little  prairie  spots  in  northern  Natchitoches.  Both  the 
ferruginous  and  limestone  concretions  contain  many  casts  of 
marine  shells.  This  locality  is  just  south  of  the  house  of  Mr. 
James  Jackson,  about  Sec.  12,  11  N.,  5  W.  Twin  prairie  is  a 
little  patch  of  black  land  of  about  60  acres  situated  one-half  mile 
southeast  of  Saunder's  church    (about  Sec.  12,  11  N.,  5  W.). 

The  ground  is  covered  with  very  small  limestone  concretions 
and  in  some  of  the  gulleys  Lower  Claiborne  fossils  are  exposed  : 
Anoniia,  Plicatiita  Jilauientosa,  Pseudolivc  vetiista,  2ir\d  Ostreafalci- 
formis  were  among  the  specimens  collected. 

Vasherie  branch. — On  this  branch  of  White  Oak  Creek,  about 
10  miles  northwest  of  Winnfield,  Lerch  and  Vaughan  record  a 
Lower  Claiborne  exposure  with  a  stratum  of  calcareous  marl  20 
feet  thick.* 

(Grant  Parish) 

Georgetoivn. — We  were  not  able  to  find  any  traces  of  Tertiary 
deposits  in  the  vicinity  of  this  place.  The  mill,  store,  and  sta- 
tion are  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  level  alluvial  lands.  Vaughan 
cites  Lower  Claiborne  fossils  from  this  place. f 

(Caldwell  Parish) 

Columbia. — The  Lignitic  sands  and  clays,  belonging  perhaps 
to  the  Lower  Claiborne  stage  are  exposed  very  advantageously 
for  study  around  the  station  and  for  some  distance  to  the  south 
along  the  railway  track. 

Nowhere  in  this  part  of  the  State  are  there  better  outcrops. 


*See  Lerch's  2d  Report,  etc.,  p.  89  ;  and  Vaughan,  U.  S.  GeoLSur.,  Bull. 
142,  p.  31. 
fU.  vS.  Geol.  .Sur.  Bull.  No.  142,  p.  17. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  i? 


Plate  6 


t 


r^ 


^> 


ft       f:*^^ 


.^    V 


^^ 


"SW 


CUT  SOUTH   OF   STATION,    COLUMBIA,    LA. 


II]      General  Geology:    Lower  Claiborne  Eocene       8i 

Hopkins  *  and  Lerch  t  have  already  given  sections  of  several 
of  these  exposures.  Hopkins  most  important  section  was  taken 
"  one  mile  back  of  Columbia  "  in  the  hills.  It  shows  sands  and 
clays  of  various  colors  and  thin  seams  of   "  iron  rock." 

He  noticed  the  abundance  in  certain  layers  of  fossil  leaves, 
and  mentions  a  lignitized log  "showing  structure  very  prettily.'' 

Lerch's  best  section  was  taken  at  the  first  important  outcrop 
on  the  west  side  of  the  railroad  going  south  from  the  station. 
We  have  several  photographs  of  this  interesting  place,  showing 
a  non-conformity  of  the  layers  to  the  right  and  near  the  track 
with  those  to  the  left  and  above  to  the  top  of  the  bluff.  One  of 
these  views  is  herewith  reproduced.     (Plate  6.) 

Great  trouble  is  experienced  by  the  railroad  officials  in  keep- 
ing the  track  from  moving  laterally  or  sinking  in  the  mud  in 
these  deep  cuts.  This  is  due  somewhat  to  the  fact  that  layers 
of  sand,  approaching  "quicksand"  alternate  with  impervious 
clay  layers.  The  water  is  held  by  the  clay  layers  and  this  tends 
to  make  the  sand  very  movable.  The  diflficulty  in  this  region, 
however,  is  not  serious  ;  it  can  be  obviated  very  generally  by 
widening  the  cut  a  few  feet,  and  securing  proper  drainage  for  the 
track. 

Lerch  mentions  a  fine  bed  of  lignite  on  Coal  creek  near  this 
town.  We  did  not  visit  the  outcrop.  Dicotyledinous  leaves, 
however,  are  to  be  found  in  great  abundance  in  the  clayey  layers 
of  these  various  sections.  Here,  then,  will  be  an  excellent 
opportunity  of  determining  the  practical  value  of  fossil  leaves  in 
determining  the  age,  or  horizon  of  the  formations  of  this  region. 
An  endeavor  will  early  be  made  to  secure  large  quantities  of 
these  fossils. 

Below  the  station  on  the  hill  slope  towards  the  town,  a  layer 
of  calcareous,  light-colored  sandstone  is  found,  which  has  been 
quarried  to  a  slight  extent.  It  is  but  a  thin  stratum  and  can 
never  be  of  any  considerable  economic  importance. 

On  the  west  of  the  Ouachita  the  land  is  very  hilly  and  broken, 
and  most  beautiful  views  are  to  be  had  from  these  high  hills  for 


*i'st  Report,  1869,  pp.  83-84. 
f  Lerch's  2d  Report,  p.   83. 


82  Geological   Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

miles  up  and  down  the  river.  To  the  east  of  the  Ouachita 
stretch  wide  alluvial  plains. 

In  general  there  would  seem  to  be  very  little  calcareous  matter 
in  the  substrata  of  this  region.  Towards  011a,  however,  white 
calcareous  concretions  are  found  in  wells. 

Lone  Grave  bluff. — Hopkins  gives  a  section  at  this  locality. 
From  the  character  of  the  various  strata  named  (white  sand, 
laminated  lignitic  clay  et  al.),  it  is  evident  the  same  condition  of 
deposition  obtained  here  as  at  Columbia,  and  the  beds  are  doubt- 
less of  the  same  age. 

(Ouachita  Parish.) 

Monroe. — This  is  a  region  very  difficult  to  study  geologically 
•on  account  of  the  lack  of  good  sections.  Lerch  reports  Clai- 
borne fossils,  from  the  artesian  well  bored  at  this  place  under  the 
supervision  of  W.  A.  Strong.  Specimens  supposed  to  be  these 
have  been  sent  us  from  Baton  Rouge  but  they  are  almost  cer- 
tainly from  Smithville,  Tex.,  as  determined  by  the  character  of 
the  fauna  and  the  very  color  of  the  embedding  material.  (See 
Lerch's  ist  Report,  p.  21.)  They  were  from  a  depth  of  185 
feet,  in  a  black  clay  stratum. 

Calhoun. — The  red  sands  and  gray  clays  along  the  railroad 
from  Monroe  to  Calhoun  have  already  been  described  b}^  Lerch 
in  his  first  report  pp.  21-22,  25. 

(Jackson  Parish.) 

Our  information  regarding  the  geolog}'  of  this  parish  is  very 
meagre.  Johnson  *  has  mentioned  a  few  iron  ore  deposits  of 
apparently  limited  extents,  and  Vaughanf  has  given  two  locali- 
ties of  Lower  Claiborne  Eocene  fossils  on  the  Liberty  hill, 
Vernon  road.  One  10  miles  east  of  Liberty  hill,  the  other  15 
miles  east  of  the  same  place. 

(Lincoln  Parish.) 

Vinhig  mills. — This  parish  has,  as  yet,  received  but  little 
attention.     Johnson  mentions  high  hills  capped  with  ferruginous 

*Iron  Ores  of  La.  and  Tex.,  p.  47. 
-fU.  S.  Geol.  Sur.  Bull.  142,  p.  32. 


n]      General  Geology  :   Lower  Claiborne  Eocene      83 

sandstone  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Vining  mills.  Fossils  were 
obtained  from  a  greensand  reached  in  a  well  sunk  by  Mr.  Hud- 
speth in  the  bottom  near  this  place.* 

Vienyia. — "  In  the  vicinity  of  Vienna  good  limonite  is  abun- 
dant on  the  surface  and  it  occurs  widely  scattered  over  the  red 
lands  which  extend  from  Vienna  to  Mr.  A.  G.  Reed's,  Sec.  9, 
19  N.,  4  W.,  a  distance  of  eight  miles." — Johnson. 

Redwiyie' s  spring. — Johnson  gives  a  section  at  this  place,  and 
states  that  the  greensand  is  12  feet  thick.  In  a  foot-note  he 
states  that  ' '  tests  of  this  greensand  show  it  to  contain  potash 
and  also  to  be  highly  phosphatic." 

Lerch  mentions  the  occurrence  near  here  on  Judge  Graham's 
plantation  of  fossil  casts  in  clay  ironstone  concretions.  Vienna 
seems  according  to  him,  to  be  the  center  of  a  red-land  area.f 

The  fine  sections  exposed  along  the  V.  S.  and  P.  R.  R.,  are 
illustrated  by  Lerch  on  a  folding  sheet  placed  opposite  p.  26,  of 
his  first  report. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  disturbances  of  these  strata. 

Nine  miles  west  of  Ruston. — Nine  miles  west  of  Rustonon  the 
Arcadia-Ruston  road  a  coarse  iron  sandstone  containing  many 
fossils  crop  out  in  the  road-side.  Hardly  enough  material  was 
collected  at  this  locality  to  render  its  identification  beyond 
question,  as  the  locality  shows  a  tendency  to  combine  Lower 
Claiborne  and  Lignitic  forms.  More  material  will  probably 
prove  it  to  be  Lower  Claiborne. 

(Bienville  Parish.) 

Sec.  31,  14  N.,  7  W. — About  200  yards  east  of  the  Campti 
Sparta  road  on  the  Lake  village  and  Venon  road  is  a  typical 
Ostrea-stxe^n  prairie.  Above  the  Osirea  layer  are  numerous 
concretions,  containing  very  indistinct  casts.  The  common 
Osirea  falciformis  and  O.  johnsoni  were  seen  here.  This  is 
the  locality  which  Lerch  refers  to  in  his  first  report  as 
Cretaceous.  \ 

*  Iron  Ores  of  La.  and  Tex.,  p.  45. 

f  1st  Report,  p.  26. 

X  Bull.  La.  Expt.  Station,  part  i,   1892,  p.   14. 


84  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Sparta. — North  of  King's  salt  works  on  the  Coushatta-Sparta 
road  the  hills  rise  very  abruptly  120  feet.  The  material  seems 
to  be  almost  entirely  a  light  colored,  rather  fine  sand.  Rapid 
erosion  gives  rise  to  some  very  interesting  topographic  forms  ; 
great,  perfectly  shaped  ampitheaters  are  common  near  the  heads 
of  the  valleys.  On  the  whole  it  is  a  topography  without  sharp 
angles.  In  places  natural  land-locked  ponds  were  seen,  looking 
like  great  sink-holes. 

About  six  miles  from  Sparta  long-leaf  pine  takes  the  place  of 
the  short-leaf  and  continues  to  within  a  mile  of  the  old  town. 
At  Sparta  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  fine,  light-colored  sand  with 
coarse  iron  sandstone  boulders.  There  seems  to  be  no  good 
reason  for  separating  this  sand  from  the  adjacent  Claiborne  beds. 

Liberty  Hill. — Nearly  all  the  hills  in  the  vicinity  of  Liberty 
hill  are  covered  with  ferruginous  concretions  filled  with  casts  of 
Lower  Claiborne  fossils.  The  best  locality  seen  was  above,  i  ^ 
miles  northeast  of  the  village  on  the  Ruston  road.  Near  a 
graveyard,  north  of  the  stores,  fossiliferous  iron  concretions 
were  seen  capping  the  hill.  They  were  here  underlaid  by  beds 
of  coarse  iron  sandstone  and  by  the  gray  Arcadia  clays  of 
Lerch.  This  would  seem  to  show  that  the  Arcadia  clays  are 
merely  a  subordinate  bed  of  the  Lower  Claiborne.* 

The  fossiliferous  Lower  Claiborne  material  continues  for  about 
10  miles  north  of  Liberty  hill  on  the  Arcadia  road. 

Arcadia. — Dr.  Givins,  at  Arcadia,  has  kindly  furnished  the 
following  section  of  the  well  on  his  place  : 

1.  Surface  Soil — red  and  white  sandy  loam 3       ft. 

2.  Mottled  red  and  white  clay 7-8  ft. 

3.  White  clay  with  some  red 5       ft. 

4.  Dark  brown   or  bluish  black  tenaceous  clay,  mottled 

with    white  and  red,  containing  some  sand  and 
selenite crystals, shows  traces  of  fossils  and  leaves.  10       ft. 

5.  Hard  red  iron  concretions,    containing    fossils  and 

some  phosphate  of  iron i  >^  ft. 

6.  Pure  white  sand 2  ft. 

7.  Green  sand    with  fossils 10  ft. 

8.  Hard  rock  not  passed  through. 

*Also  referred  to  by  Vaughan,  Bull.,  U.  S.  Geol.   Surv.,  1896,  p.   21. 


iij      General  Geology  :    Lower  Claiborne  Eocene      85 

Water  from  above  layer. 
•  "  5  "  is  reported  to  be  slightly  sulphurous.  Water  for  "  7  "  is 
strongly  impregnated  with  lime.  In  the  base  of  the  first  cut 
west  of  Arcadia  are  about  3  feet  of  dark  sandy  clay  with  thin  clay 
partings,  and  patches  of  greensand.  Several  shark's  teeth  and 
specimen  of  Byssoarca,Cardium  and  Deyitalium  were  found  here. 

About  three  miles  west  of  Arcadia  is  the  ' '  hog  back  "  railroad 
cut.  A  rather  soft  layer,  bearing  greensand  is  here  overlaid  by 
harder  clayey  material.  The  cut  was  originally  made  through 
the  upper  clay,  and  a  little  way  into  the  greensand.  The  weight 
of  the  top  material  squeezed  the  greensand  up  into  the  cut.  The 
local  section  boss  states  that  the  railroad  company  has  had  to 
lower  the  track  three  times,  each  time  about  three  feet.  It  is 
this  sort  of  action  that  Hilgard  regards  as  having  formed  the 
mud-lumps  of  the  passes  of  the  Mississippi.  A  few  casts  were 
found  in  the  lower  part  of  the  greensand. 

Gibbsland. — About  two  and  one-half  miles  east  of  Gibbsland  a 
light  chocolate  colored  clay,  about  8  feet  up  in  the  cut  contains 
many  casts  oi  Leda,  Venericardia,  Denialiiim  and  a  small  Echino- 
derm.  At  the  base  of  Mt.  Ivcbanon  are  easily  identified  Lower 
Claiborne  fossils. 

HammetV s  branch. — This  may  be  regarded  as  once  of  the 
classic  Lower  Claiborne  localities  of  the  State.  It  is  situated 
in  the  S.  W.  one-fourth  Sec.  30,  18  N.,  6  W.,  about  2  miles 
northeast  of  Mt.  Lebanon.  The  main  exposure  is  in  a  little 
gully  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  road.  As  this  section  has 
been  published  by  Johnson,*  Lerchf  and  Vaughan,|  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  republish  it  here. 

(Bossier  Parish.) 

Coushatta  bluff. — This  and  a  few  other  bluffs  on  Red  river  were 
examined  by  Hopkins  and  Johnson,  and  later  by  Veatch  of  this 
Survey.  (See  special  report  on  Shreveport  area.)  Johnson 
points  out   how  that   from  here  southeasterly  to  Rocky  mount 


*5oth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Hou.  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  26,  No,  195,  1888,  p.  20. 
tBull.  for  Expt.  Station  :  Geol.  and  Agr.,  part  i,  1892,  p.  20. 
JBull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  142,  1896,  pi.  i,  fig.  2. 


86  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

and  easterly  to  Red  land  there  is  an  elevated  expanse  of  ferru- 
ginous "  red-lands." 

Three  miles  east  of  these  bluffs  he  records  the  occurrence  of 
marine  shells  in  shallow  wells. 

Red  land  area. — He  reports  iron  ore  in  the  N.W.  %,  S.  E.  %, 
S.  28,  22  N.,  12  W.  Again  in  N.W.  ]i,  S.W.  i^,  Sec.  20,  23  N., 
12  W.,  where  casts  of  fossils  occur.  Sections  18,  and  26,  22 
N.,  12  W.,  contain  ores  and  fossils. 

The  Red  land  region  was  visited  and  reported  upon  by  Har- 
ris* in  the  Arkansas  Survey  Report  for  1892.  The  Pope  Joy 
cut  and  that  at  Roberta,  on  the  St.  L.  S.  W.  R.  R,  are  described 
in  a  detailed  manner.  Fossils  from  the  red  land  area  are 
named. 

Bellevue. — East  of  Lake  Bodcaw  other  red  lands  appear. 
They  are  described  by  Johnson  and  Veatch.  The  former  says  : 
In  southern  Bossier  is  an  island-like  mass  of  hilly  older  Tertiary 
material  entirely  surrounded  by  comparatively  level  upland  flats 
of  probable  Port  Hudson  age.  Bellevue,  Fillmore  and  Haugh- 
ton  are  situated  two  miles  from  Bellevue  ;  iron  sandstone  and 
iron  concretions  abound  along  the  roads.  A  few  poor  fossils  were 
collected  here  but  hardly  enough  to  prove  the  age  of  the  bed. 
About  Fillmore  there  are  a  few  poor  fossils  in  iron  concretions. 

Johnson's  section,  from  a  deep  wash  below  the  jail  at  Bellevue 
shows  well  the  character  of  this  region.     It  is  as  follows  : 

1 .  Reddish  surface  clay  and  sand  with   some  fragments  of 

geodes 30  ft. 

2.  White  clay  and  sand 20  ft." 

3.  Stratum  of  sand i  ft. 

4.  Dark  lignitic  sand 15  ft- 

5.  Blue  greensand 2  ft. 

6.  "Soapstone,"  i.  e.,  laminated    smooth  brown    claj',  of 

which  there  can  be  seen  to  main  stream  of  branch, 
where  there  is  an  alluvial  bed  one  mile  from  Lake 
Bodcaw,  only 6  ft. 


*Ann'l  Report,  Geol.  Surv.,  Ark.,  1892,  vol.  2,  pp.  179-1S0,  Pub.  1894. 


II]       General  Geology  :    Lower  Claiborne  Eocene        87 

(Webster  Parish.) 

Minden. — On  the  west  side  of  Crow  creek  in  the  Homer-Min- 
den  road,  gravel  appears  on  hillsides.  The  soil  is  generally  a 
shade  lighter  and  more  yellow  than  on  the  red  lands. 

From  eight  miles  northeast  of  Minden  the  gravel  is  quite  com- 
mon. The  soil  is  red  or  yellowish-red  and  rather  sand)'.  The 
relief  is  very  small  and  the  bottoms  quite  wide,  in  marked  con- 
trast to  the  red  land  topography  about  Homer. 

Exposures  of  gray  claj'  are  common  about  Minden.  Going 
north  from  Minden  on  the  Minden-Sykes  ferry  road  the  most 
noticeable  thing  is  the  great  abundance  of  gravel.  The  soil  is  a 
fine  gra}'  sand  and  occasionally  graj^  loam.  Red  sandy  soil  is 
comparatively  rare. 

Northern  part  of  parish. — One  mile  north  of  Mr.  Sam.  Mem's 
house  (S.  W.  %,  N.  E.  ^,  Sec.  19,  20N.,  8  W.)  the  road  passes 
into  what  appears  to  be  the  bottom,  but  which  turns  out  to  be 
the  second  bottom.  The  bottom  of  Flat  Lick  creek  is  nearly,  if 
not,  a  mile  wide.  On  the  Lewisville-Minden  road  at  the  13  mile- 
board  a  very  red  sand)-  soil  sets  in. 

This  red  sand)'  soil  continues  to  the  red-land  hills,  of  which  it 
forms  an  outlier.  The  red  hills  rise  very  abruptly  above  the  sur- 
rounding country.  They  are  covered  with  ferruginous  concre- 
tions and  sandstone.  The  summits  of  the  hills  are  210  feet  above 
Black  creek.  North  of  the  red  hills,  which  are  from  a  mile  to 
two  miles  across,  the  land  is  reddish  yellow  sand  or  sandy  clay 
with  occasional  patches  of  gray  "dirt"  land. 

In  a  little  branch  one-half  a  mile  northeast  of  Leton  (Leton  is 
a  new  post-ofSce  in  the  N.W.  ^,  Sec.  36,  22  N.,  9W.)  in  a  small 
branch  the  following  section  is  exposed  : 

1.  Gray  "  dirt  land,"  a  sandy  loam 2  ft. 

2.  Gravel  and  reddish  rock i  ft. 

3.  Irop  sandstone i  ft. 

4.  Green  sand  with  little  white  spots  of  lime,  no  shells  .  .  .  i  ft. 

5.  Slate-colored  clay  to  water  level i  ft. 

A  mottled  gray  and  red  clay,  representing  the  Arcadia  clays, 

is  seen  in  nearly  all  the  road  gullies,  about  half-way  up  the  sides 
of  the  hills.  Gravel  is  seen  here  and  there,  and  is  quite  common 
near  Shongaloo. 


88  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

About  half  a  mile  from  Syke's  ferry  the  road  enters  the  level 
second  bottom.  Natural  mounds  are  quite  numerous.  The  soil 
varies  from  a  gray  clay  to  a  pure  gray  sand. 

The  present  bottom  of  Bayou  Dauchite  is  about  half  a  mile 
wide  and  at  Syke's  Ferry  is  on  the  west  side  of  the  Bayou. 
From  Serepta  to  Cotton  valley  the  relief  is  very  small  indeed. 
The  prevailing  soil  is  a  pure  gray  sand. 

Johnson  describes  briefly  the  iron  ores  of  this  parish,  and 
determines  their  age  as  follows  :  From  fossils  collected  in  N.  E. 
%  Sec.  i6,  20  N.,  9  W.,  and  in  S.  2,  same  township  and  range, 
and  in  S.  25,  21  N.,  9  W.,  it  appears  that  these  red  lands  are  the 
outcropping  of  Claiborne  marls,  rich  in  greensand,  which  were 
traced  northward  from  Minden. 

(Claiborne    Parish) 

Lisbon. — Around  Lisbon  is  a  red  sandy  clay  soil,  apparently  of 
considerable  agricultural  value,  for  the  country  looks  like  a  very 
thrifty  prosperous  strip  of  land.  The  larger  creeks  have  great 
flat  bottoms.  Middle  Fork  bottom  is  in  this  region  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  wide.  It  is  partly  in  cultivation.  The  hills 
on  the  southern  portion  of  the  bottoms  have  a  height  of  about 
100  feet.  Some  of  the  ironstone  concretions  which  occur  in  this 
region,  when  broken  open,  contain  a  nucleus  of  gray  phosphate 
of  lime.  Several  of  these  concretions  were  picked  up  on  the 
hills  on  the  south  side  of  Middle  Fork  bottoms  and  on  McGar- 
land's  creek  ;  and,  Mr.  Maurice  Bird  of  the  North  Louisiana 
Experiment  Station  has  shown  that  the  concretions  contain 
from  15  to  20  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid.  It  is  hoped  that 
larger  deposits  of  these  may  be  found. 

Haynesville. — Around  Haynesville  the  topographic  relief  is 
not  so  great  as  farther  east.  Gray  sands  and  clays  occur  in  the 
road  cuts,  and  gravel  crops  out  on  the  hillsides. 

Homer. — Six  miles  northwest  of  Homer  on  the  Homer- 
Haynesville  road  the  light  gray  sands  of  the  Gordon  region  are 
replaced  by  red  lands.  These  red  lands  occur  with  scarcely  an 
interruption  to  Homer.  At  Homer  the  railroad  cut  shows  18 
feet  of  light  yellow  to  white  strongly   cross-bedded  sands  with 


t  -s 


11]  General  Geology  :   Jackson  Eocene  89 

horizontal  layers  of  white  claj-  pebbles,  and  near  the  top,  some 
iron  concretions. 

The  red  lands  with  very  marked  topographic  relief  continue 
for  about  6  miles  from  Homer,  on  the  Homer-Minden  road. 
The  iron  concretions  then  commence  to  be  conglomeritic,  and 
about  8  miles  from  Homer  large  quartz  pudding-stones  are  quite 
numerous.  The  first  really  noticeable  alluvial  valley  is  that  of 
Crow  creek  which  is  about  half  a  mile  wide.  Judging  from  the 
fields  seen  here  it  seems  capable  of  producing  good  oats. 

(Union    Parish) 

The  northern  part  of  Union  parish  is  very  heavily  covered 
with  sands  in  part  beronging  to  the  underlying  Eocene  strata 
and  in  part  to  the  Lafayette  gravels  which  are  found  over  many 
of  the  hillsides.  Very  fine  exposures  of  red  and  white  sands  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  deep  gullies  around  Walnut  home  and  Wal- 
lace's store. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  parish  is  a  low  strip  of  pine  flats, 
presumably  belonging  to  the  Port  Hudson  period.  These  are 
well  developed  on  the  Ouachita  city — Farmersville  road  from  3 
to  8  miles  west  of  Ouachita  city  and  on  the  Alabama-Marion 
road  to  within  5^  miles  from  Marion. 

D'Arbonne. — Along  the  D'Arbonne  and  its  branches  the 
country  is  very  broken,  a  relief  of  about  150  being  quite  com- 
mon. Mosley's  bluff  is  an  abruptly  sloping  hill  80  feet  high. 
The  soil  is  composed  of  sand  with  some  iron  sandstone.  Near 
the  top  are  layers  of  red  sands  separated  by  occasional  thin  lay- 
ers of  clay.  Wherever  the  clay  layers  occur  they  give  rise  to  a 
spring  horizon.  Around  Farmersville  high  sandy  hills  covered 
with  ferruginous  sandstone  and  gravel, lie  about  in  the  northwest- 
ern part  of  the  parish.  Toward  Junction  city  the  relief  is  much 
less  marked.  The  land  is  rather  low  and  the  soil  a  pure  grained, 
silty  sand. 

Jackson   Stage 

Distribution 

The  map. — The  general  distribution  of  this  terrane  is  shown 
on  the  accompanying  geological   map  of  the  State.     It  is  based 


90  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect.. 

wholly  on  the  character  of  the  fossil  remains  found  at  various 
localities  throughout  the  entire  extent  of  the  belt.  Our  historic 
review  shows  how  erroneously  various  deposits  from  Red 
river  to  the  Sabine  have  been  referred  to  the  "Vicksburg," 
"Mansfield"  and  other  horizons  quite  without  regard  to  any 
study  of  the  fossil  remains  they  so  well  display.  We  have  as 
yet  found  no  trace  of  Vicksburg  deposits  west  of  Red  river. 

Localities 

Bayou  Toro. — On  the  east  bank  of  Bayou  Toro  in  the  S.  E. 
one-fourth  of  the  N.  W.  one-fourth  of  Sec.  6,  3  N.,  11  W., 
Vernon  parish,  is  a  small  bluff  about  20  feet  high  containing 
many  Jackson  fossils.  The  shells  scattered  through  the  clays 
are  very  much  decayed  and  quite  diflScult  to  obtain.  Scattered 
through  the  clay  are  large  dark-colored  limestone  concretions. 
They  are  particularly  abundant  in  the  little  stream  which  enters 
Toro  just  south  of  the  bluff.  It  was  from  these  limestone  bowl- 
ders that  most  of  the  fossils  were  collected.  Outcrops  of  typical 
Grand  Gulf  sandstone  were  seen  in  the  hillside  about  50  feet 
above  this  locality. 

Hilgard  in  1 869*  described  a  seam  of  shell  limestone  with  "Vicks- 
burg" fossils  at  the  base  of  the  Grand  Gulf  rocks  on  Bayou  Toro. 
The  location  of  this  bed,  corresponds  very  closely  with  the  bed 
from  which  we  collected  fossils. 

Rattan  P.  O. — The  bed  of  Bluff  branch  on  the  place  of  Mr. 
J.  L.  Peace,  near  Rattan  P.  O.  (N.  W.  one-fourth  Sec.  8, 
4  N.,  II  W.)  shows  an  outcrop  about  8  feet  high  composed  of  a 
fine  yellow  sand  containing  many  small  shells.  Several  larger 
shells  were  obtained  from  a  well  sunk  at  Mr.  Peace's  house. 
These  fossils  indicate  that  the  beds  belong  to  the  Jackson 
stage. 

Material  which  is  very  strikingly  similar  to  that  just  mentioned 
occurs  on  the  Leesville-Provencal  road  between  Middle  and  Sta 
Barba  creeks  about  10  miles  south  of  Provencal.  This  is  very 
nearly  in  line  with  the  Jackson  outcrops. 


*Am.  Journ.  Sci.,  2d  voL  48,  p.  339. 


II]  General  Geology  :   Jackson  Eocene  91 

Montgomery. — This  is  already  a  classic  locality  in  Louisiana 
geology.  (See  under  Historic  Review.)  The  accompanying 
illustration  shows  well  the  general  appearance  of  the  most 
important  outcrop  in  this  region. 

The  following  beds  are  exposed  :  • 

8.     Orange  sands 5-50  ft. 

7.     The  above  grade  downward  into  pebble  beds 5        ft. 

6.     lyight  sands 3        ft. 

5.     Sands,  slightly  lignitic 5         ft. 

4.     As  5,  separated  by  clay  layer 8        ft. 

3 .     Thin  light  sandy  clay 

2.     Bluish  marl,  fossiliferous 5        ft. 

I.     Lignitiferous  clays 15         ft. 

Large  collections  were  made  at  this  locality  and  will  be 
reported  upon  next  year. 

Owing  to  a  very  heavy  deposit  of  Lafayette  material  over  these 
Jackson  beds  the  influence  of  the  latter  upon  the  soils  of  the 
region  is  greatly  diminished.  Towards  Wheeling,  on  the  east 
side  of  Nantaches  bayou,  very  extensive  deposits  of  ferruginous 
sandstone  and  sands  were  observed.  The  hills  are  50  to  150 
feet  in  height  above  the  Bayovi.  The  ravines,  although  numer- 
ous, seem  to  show  no  traces  of  fossil  remains.  The  soil  of  the 
hills  is  excessively  sandy.  Gravel  layers  are  numerous,  occur- 
ring above  the  heavy  sandstone  ledges,  and  below  the  gray  sands 
of  the  hills. 

Tancock' s  prairie. — Just  south  of  Ben  creek  or  the  northern 
edge  of  Tancock's  prairie  many  specimens  of  Ostrea  tris^onalis  are 
scattered  over  the  ground.  The  limestone  concretions  which 
accompany  this  outcrop  contain  in  addition  to  other  forms  very 
large  specimens  of  Haminea  grandis.  These  with  other  speci- 
mens collected  have  proven  the  Jackson  age  of  the  locality. 
Hilgard  refers  this  to  the  Vicksburg.* 

TiiHos. — This  station  is  in  a  Jackson  prairie.  In  light  grayish 
sandy  clay  in  the  railroad  cuts  there  are  many  calcareous  concre- 
tions. In  the  bottom  of  some  of  the  wash-outs  by  the  side  of 
the  track  a  bluish  clay  appears. 

*Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d  series, vol.  47,  1869,  p.  340;  Supl.  and  Final  Report  of 
a  Geol.  Record  of  La.,  p.  33. 


92  Geological  vSurvey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

A  typical  cut  can  be  seen,  along  the  track  about  one  mile  south 
of  the  station.  Zeuglodon  bones  are  fonnd  here.  A  vertebra 
purchased  of  Mr.  Porter  shows  an  oyster  grown  upon  it,  proving 
that  the  Zeuglodo?i  died  and  its  flesh  decayed  before  the  oyster 
was  attached. 

In  an  old  field  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  north  of  the  sta- 
tion, along  numerous  little  washes  in  the  field,  many  well-pre- 
served fossils  are  obtained.  Ligniferous  clays  appear  in  the 
branches  to  the  north.  A  cut  one  mile  north  of  the  station  shows 
southward  dipping  lignitic  clays,  superimposed  by  what  seems 
to  be  Jackson  marly  clays. 

There  seems  to  be  a  slight  nonconformity  between  the  two 
classes  of  deposits. 

Olla. — Going  still  farther  northward  from  TuUos  we  saw  no 
good  exposures.  Gray  buckshot  clays  appear  in  shallow  cuts. 
At  Olla  wells  are  said  to  penetrate  marls  with  calcareous  con- 
cretions. 

Lerch  reports  fossils  from  the  region  in  Sec.  34,  n  N.,  2  H.* 

Ouachita  river. — The  Jackson  is  exposed  in  numerous  places 
along  Ouachita  river  below  Columbia.  It  was  in  this  region  that 
Judge  Bry  found  in  1832  the  bones  of  the  Zeuglodon  and  the 
shells  which  caused  Conrad  to  refer  the  region  to  the  Eocene,  f 

In  1 84 1  Conrad  described  a  new  species,  Cardinm  nicolletti, 
from  this  region. J 

Hopkins  visited  Grandview  bluff  in  1869  and  found  several 
bones  of  Zeuglodon  there.  The  presence  of  the  little  Orbitoline 
forms,  which  are  common  in  the  Jackson  of  this  State,  led  him 
to  confuse  some  of  the  beds  northeast  of  the  bluff  with  the 
Vicksburg. 

In  1866  Aldrich  described  a  new  species  of  gastropod,  Haminea 
grandis,  from  Bunker  Hill  bluff. 

The  first  fossiliferous  outcrops  we  saw  on  Ouachita  river  below 
Columbus  were  at  Gibson's  landing.  In  the  bluff  at  this  place 
is  a  layer  of  fossiliferous  sandy  clay  about  eight  feet  thick,  and 
about  fifty  above  water  level.     In  a  small  branch  about  a  mile 


*Bull.  La.  Expt.  Sta.,  part   i,  p.  92. 

fjoiir.  PhiL  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.,  voL  7,  1834,  p.  120. 

JProc.  PhiL  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.   for  1841,  p.  33. 


II]  General  Geology  :   Vicksburg  Oligocene  93 

north  of  this  landing  Zeuglodon  vertebrae  were  found  together 
with  many  shells. 

Bunker  Hill  bluff  exposes  about  eighty  feet  of  bluish  gray  clay 
containing  very  large  selenite  crystals.  Near  the  top  is  a  layer 
of  large  Venericardia  planicosta  in  reddish  clay ;  at  a  height  of  sixty 
feet  numerous  casts  of  Pinna  are  in  a  yellow  limestone  concretion. 

Some  of  these  casts  look  very  much  like  the  teeth  of  some  very 
large  animal,  and  we  are  not  surprised  that  Judge  Bry  mistook 
them  for  such.*  The  main  fossiliferous  stratum  is  at  the  very 
base  of  the  bluff. 

Grandview  bluff,  a  mile  above  Bunker  hill,  shows  about  the 
same  section. 

At  Danville  lauding,  about  100  yards  below  the  Caldwell  and 
Catahoule  parish  line  (marked  Enterprise  on  lyockett's  map)  is  a 
bluff  about  forty  feet  high  composed  of  bluish  yellow  marl, very 
fossiliferous.  The  fossils  have  a  slightly  different  appearance 
from  the  Bunker  hill  shells  but  are  still  decidedly  Jackson  in 
character. 

Wyant's  bluff,  about  four  miles  above  Danville,  is  about 
twelve  feet  high  and  shows  blue  clay  with  a  few  impressions  and 
occasional  pockets  of  shells.  They  are  the  same  as  found  at 
Danville. 

OLIGOCENE 

Vicksburg 
Distribution 

Rosefield. — The  Vicksburg  stage  is  only  very  slightly  developed 
in  Louisiana.  It  outcrops  south  of  Rosefield  and  probably  occurs 
along  Bayou  Funne  Louis.  West  of  the  Little  river  it  has  not 
been  seen. 

Lerch  has  described  a  section  along  Shell  creek,  three  miles 
south  of  Rosefield  in  Sec.  35,  11  S.,  4  E.,  and  Vaughan  lists 
Dentalium.  mississippiense ,  Ostrea  vicksburgensis,  Peden  potilsoni, 
Area  mississippie7isis,  Byssoarca  lima^  Pedunculus  ardahis,  Cras- 
satella  mississippiensis,  Meretrix  sobrina,  Balanophyllia  caidifera, 
and  Orbitoides  mantelli,  from  this  locality. 


*Am.  Phil.  Soc,  Trans.,  new  series,  vol.  4,  pp.  400-401,  1832. 


94  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [vSect. 

Shells  were  collected  at  several  places  between  this  locality  and 
the  Ouachita,  but  the  specimens  and  notes  were  left  with  a 
gentleman  at  Rosefield  to  be  forwarded,  and  have  not  yet  been 
received. 

On  the  Harrisonburg  road  near  the  branch  to  Danville  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  south  of  Rosefield,  fossiliferous  yellow  limestone 
concretions  outcrop  in  the  road.  They  are  seen  again  near 
Sone's  store,  a  mile  farther  south.  About  three  miles  east  of 
Sone's  store  fossils  are  common  near  the  saw-mill.  Near  the 
center  of  Sec.  31,  11  N.,  there  is  a  small  prairie  with  shells.  In 
bottoms  below,  beds  of  lignite,  which  have  at  different  times 
attracted  prospectors,  are  reported. 

Grand   Gulf 

HiSTORlCAI. 

Origin  of  the  term  Grand  Gulf. — This  formation  was  first 
named  by  Wailes,  then  State  geologist  of  Mississippi,  from  a 
typical  exposure  at  Grand  Gulf,  Mississippi.*  It  was  described 
at  length  by  Hilgard  in  i860  in  his  report  on  the  Geology  and 
Agriculture  of  Mississippi.! 

The  Pascagoula  formation  (^Miocene). — In  1890,  Mr.  I,.  C. 
Johnson  discovered  near  Vernal  P.  O.,  Miss.,  and  at  other  local- 
ities on  the  Pascagoula  river  a  series  of  marine  beds  in  the  upper 
part  of  Hilgard' s  Grand  Gulf.  These  marine  beds  he  named 
the  Pascagoula  formation.  From  the  fossils  collected  at  this 
locality,  Gnathodon  johnsoyii,  Mactra  lateralis  and  a  large  oyster 
resembling  O.  titayi  of  the  west  coast,  Dall;];  has  concluded  that 
the  beds  are  equivalents  of  the  Chesapeaks  Miocene.  ||  It  seems 
very  probably  that  this  formation  is  represented  in  Louisiana,  in 
the  southern  part  of  what  is  now  called  Grand  Gulf  territory, 
but,  thus  far,  it  has  not  been  recognized. 

Study  of  the  Louisiana  beds  of  this  period. — In  18 16,  William 
Darby  recognized   the  northern   edge  of  what  is  now  called  the 

*  Report  on  the  Agr.  and  Geol.  of  Miss.,  1854,  pp.  216-217. 
t  Pp.  147-154,  i860. 

X  Dall  and  Harris,  Bull.  U.  vS.  Geol.  Surv.,  No.  84,  1892,  p.  164. 
II  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.   Am.   vol.  5,  p.    157,   1894  ;  i8th  An.  Rept.  U.  vS.  Geol. 
Surv.,  1896-1897,  part  II,  p.  339. 


11]        General  Geology  :   Grand  Gulf  Oligocene         95 

Grand  Gulf,  traced  it  from  Sicily  Island  to  the  falls  at  Alexandria 
and  correlated  it  with  the  bluffs  on  the  east  side  of  the  Missis- 
sippi "  above  Natchez.  "*  In  1869,  Hilgard  skirted  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  formation,  passed  across  the  same  in  Calcasieu 
and  Vernon  parishes  and  examined  the  northern  escarpment  on 
Baj'ou  Toro  and  between  Little  river  and  Harrisonburg.  During 
1869  and  70,  Hopkins  made  sev^eral  trips  across  the  State  seeing 
the  Grand  Gulf  at  several  points.  His  descriptions  of  the  Grand 
Gulf  in  Louisiana  are  the  most  complete  that  have  yet  been 
published. t 

Johnson  X  and  Lerch  ||  have  both  examined  portions  of  the 
northern  boundary  between  Lena  and  Harrisonburg. 

Features  of  the  Formation 

Characteristics. — This  formation,  which  unconformably  over- 
lies the  Vicksburg,§  consists  in  the  northern  part  of  its  territory, 
of  a  series  of  light  colored  sandstones  and  claystones  of  white, 
gray,  or  yellowish  gray  tints.  The  sandstone  is  generally 
rather  soft,  never  over  20  feet  in  thickness  usually  only  three  or 
four.  Beds  of  loose  sand  are  unusual.  The  sand  grains  are 
commonly  quite  sharp.  The  hardness  of  the  sandstone  in  a 
given  layer  varies  very  greatly  and  makes  quarrying  in  this 
rock  a  rather  uncertain  business.  Beds  of  sand  will 
pass  in  a  few  feet  horizontally  into  hard  sandstones.  The 
accompanying  plate  shows  an  exposure  of  Grand  Gulf  in  a 
cut  on  the  Texas  and  Pacific  railroad,  about  three  miles 
west  of  Lena.  The  lower  sandstone  bed  in  this  exposure 
is  rather  uniform.  The  upper  irregular  one  shows  on  a  small 
scale  the  nodular  masses  in  which  the  sandstone  occurs.  In 
some  cases  the  amount  of  silicious  cement  is  so  great  that  the 
rock  resembles  a  quartzite.     Such  is    the   typical   Grand   Gulf 

*  A  Geog.  Des.  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  by  William  Darby,  1816,  pp.  45- 
46. 

t  ist  An.  Repl.  Geol.  Surv.  La.,  1S70,  pp.  98-102  ;  2d  An.  Kept.  GeoL 
Surv.  La.,  187 1,  pp.  18-26. 

X  50th  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  voL  26,  No.   195,  pp.  13-14,  1888. 

11  BulL  La.  Expt.  Stations  ;  GeoL  and  Agr.,  part  II,  1893,  pp.  93-98. 

§  Hilgard.— The  Later  Tertiary  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  Am.  Jour.  Sci., 
vol.  22,  1881,  pp.  58-65. 


96  Geological   Survey  ok  Loulsiana  [Sect. 

sandstone  as  exposed  at  Grand  Gulf  Mississippi.  Hilgard  gives 
the  following  description  of  it:  "The  typical  Grand  Gulf 
sandstone  consists  of  grains  of  pellucid  quartz,  constituting  a 
rather  coarse  sand,  imbeded  in  an  opaque,  white,  enamel-like 
mass  of  silex,  which  forms  quite  half  the  bulk  of  the  rock." 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  territory  occupied  by  this 
formation  (possibly,  in  the  part  belonging  to  the  Pascagoula 
formation)  sandy  clays  and  pure  highly  tenaceous  massive  clays 
of  a  gray,  grayish-white,  blue  or  green  color  are  the  rule.  The 
color  in  the  blue  and  green  clays  is  often  very  intense,  though 
on  the  surface  they  often  appear  yellow  from  oxidation.  In 
some  cases  black  lignitic  clays  are  found  in  this  deposit.  Some 
of  the  beds  are  very  calcareous  and  produce  small  black  land 
prairies.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  formation  there  are 
occasional  beds  of  very  fine   white  clay,  locally  called  "chalk." 

The  sandstones  have  resisted  erosion  much  better  than  the 
underlying  Jackson  and  Vicksburg  beds.  This  has  given  raise 
to  a  somewhat  level  Jackson  plain  bordered  on  the  south  by  a 
high,  rugged  line  of  hills.  This  very  abrupt  northern  declivity 
is  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  gradual  southern  slope  which  carries 
the  formation  down  to  the  level  of  the  southern  prairies. 

Distribution. — Large  outcrops  of  Grand  Gulf  sandstone  are  to 
be  seen  at  Harrisonburg  and  Sicily  island.  On  the  divide 
between  the  Ouachita  and  Little  river  the  Grand  Gulf  extends 
well  to  the  north,  reaching  a  point  near  Rosefield.  Along  the 
edge  of  the  formation  "chalk"  or  fine  white  clay  has  been 
reported  in  a  number  of  places.  From  Rosefield,  according  to 
Hopkins,  the  northern  line  of  the  Grand  Gulf  follows  the  Bayou 
Funne  Louis  to  Centerville,  then  turns  west  and  crosses  Little 
river  a  little  below  Gilmore's  ferry.  On  the  Colfax-Winnfield 
road  the  high  Grand  Gulf  hills  are  encountered  just  south  of 
Saddle  bayou.  About  two  miles  northwest  of  Colfax  there  is  a 
very  good  outcrop  of  Grand  Gulf  sandstone  in  Rocky  ford. 
The  sandstone  is  quite  abundant  as  far  north  as  Sec.  19,  7  N,, 
3  W.  Around  Lena  are  large  quarries  in  the  Grand  Gulf  rocks. 
Hilgard  reports  these  beds  as  capping  the  elevated  ridges 
about  Cloutierville  on  Red  river.*     The  next  notable  Exposure 

*Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d  Series,  vol.  48,  1869,  p.  337. 


II]        General  Geology  :    Grand  Gulf  Oligocene        97 

of  Grand  Gulf  is  in  the  Kisatchie  hills.  The  road  from  Lees- 
ville  to  Provencal  passes  through  a  strip  of  black  prairie  land 
about  four  miles  from  Leesville  called  Anacaco  prairie.  Cal- 
careous concretions  are  scattered  over  the  ground  in  large 
numbers  but  no  fossils  were  seen.  Another  small  calcareous 
prairie  of  about  four  acres  in  extent  occurs  north  of  Hardshell. 
In  about  Sec.  5,  4  N.,  8  W.,  a  light  colored  ledge  crops  out  in  the 
road.  Between  Kisatchie  bayou  and  Bellewood,  sandstone 
becomes  quite  common,  and  calcareous  prairies  are  still  to  be 
found.  The  northern  limit  of  the  sandstone  is  about  Bellewood. 
On  the  divide  between  the  headwaters  of  Kisatchie  and  Toro 
bayous  the  Grand  Gulf  probably  extends  well  to  the  north,  and 
it  may  be  that  the  "Bad  Hill*  "  mentioned  by  Hopkins  as  seven 
miles  south  of  Many  is  in  this  region.  If  Bad  Hill  is  seven  miles 
due  south  of  Many  it  is  Lower  Claiborne,  for  numerous  fossils  are 
found  in  this  region  and  the  distance  to  the  first  Grand  Gulf 
outcrop  due  south  of  Man}-  is  about  18  miles.  The  writers  have 
in  no  place  seen  the  Grand  Gulf  north  or  west  of  Bayou  Toro. 
The  large  quarries  in  4  N.,  11  W.,  which  have  been  opened  to 
obtain  stone  for  crib  work  at  Sabine  Pass,  Texas  afford  good 
opportunities  for  examining  the  formation  in  this  region.  The 
line  of  parting  between  the  Grand  Gulf  and  the  Jackson  lies 
from  a  mile  to  two  miles  east  of  Bayou  Toro  from  the  railroad 
bridge  to  its  mouth,  where  the  Grand  Gulf  crosses  the  Sabine 
river  into  Texas.  In  Sec.  9  and  1 7  3  N. ,  11  W. ,  large  quantities 
of  stone  are  strewn  over  the  hillsides.  Great  masses  separated 
by  erosion  often  occupy  outlying  hills  and  are  locally  supposed 
to  be  of  volcanic  origin.  Of  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
formation  Hilgard  says  :  ' '  The  line  originally  laid  down  by  me, 
and  adopted  by  Prof.  Hopkins,  in  his  Geological  Map  of  the  State, 
is  based  upon  the  connection  of  the  outcrops  near  Chicotville, 
then  near  the  mouth  of  Mill  creek  into  Calcasieu  river  and  the 
point  on  the  Sabine  (Salem)  given  as  the  limit  between  the 
Quaternary  and  Tertiary,  by  Prof.  Buckley  of  Texas. "§  In  the 
bed  of  the  Nez  Pique  and  Boggy  bayous  Hilgard  found,  what  he 

*  1st  Annual  Report.   La.  Geol.  Surv.,   1870,  p.  99. 

|Supl.  and  Final  Rept.  of  a  Geol.  Recon.  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  1873, 
p.  16. 

G 


98  Geological  Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

considered,  characteristic  outcrops  of  the  materials  of  the  Grand 
Gulf  group,  viz. ;  solid  greenish  clays  and  jagged  claj^  sandstones. 

East  of  the  Mississippi  Hopkins  has  mapped  as  Grand  Gulf 
almost  all  the  hill-lands  of  the  Florida  parishes.  The  Grand 
Gulf  is  here  deeply  covered  with  deposits  of  Lafayette  material, 
and  exposures  have  been  noted  in  but  few  places.  Hilgard 
reports  the  Grand  Gulf  along  the  river  front  as  far  south  as 
Tunica  bend.*  Two  miles  northeast  of  Laurel  Hill  McGee 
found  an  exposure  of  Grand  Gulf  in  the  west  fork  of  Thomp- 
son's creek. t  So  far  as  we  know  these  are  the  only  exposures 
of  Grand  Gulf  which  have  been  reported,  in  Louisiana,  east  of 
the  Mississippi  ;  indeed,  Clendenin  states  that  the  Mississippi  is 
the  only  stream  which  has  succeeded  in  cutting  through  the 
Lafayette  and  exposing  the  underlying  Grand  Gulf. 

Thickness. — Hopkins  calculates  the  thickness  of  the  Grand 
Gulf  in  the  vicinity  of  Harrisonburg  at  182  feet  and  remarks  that 
this  is  probably  less  than  the  true  thickness  of  the  deposit.;}; 
Some  of  the  hills  on  Bayou  Toro  are  barometrically^  from  250  to 
300  feet  high  and  hence  we  feel  quite  safe  in  assuming  for  the 
Grand  Gulf  a  thickness  of  at  least  300  feet. 

Fossils — These  beds  have  not  yet  yielded,  in  Louisiana,  any 
trace  of  animal  remains.  Specimens  of  silicified  wood  have  been 
found  at  a  number  of  places,  1|  and  beds  containing  twigs  and 
leaves  have  also  been  reported.  Veatch  has  obtained  verj^  good 
impressions  of  leaves  about  two  miles  west  of  Hornbeck. 
Specimens  of  silicified  palm-wood  collected  by  Johnson  in  Rapides 
parish  have  been  identified  by  Knowlton  as  Palmoxylon  quens- 
tedtizw^  P.cellulosiim.  Johnson  called  them  Pliocene;  McGee 
says  they  are  of  Grand  Gulf  age  ;  Knowlton  thinks  the  age  very 
uncertain.  § 

Age  of  the  Grand  Gulf 

Results  of  work  in  Alabama  and  Florida. — It  thus  appears  that 
no  clue  to  the  age  of  the   Grand  Gulf  is  given  by  the  Louisiana 

*  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  3d  Series,  vol.  i,  1871,  p.  236. 

t  12  An.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.  part  I,  p.  432. 

X  2d  An.  Rept.  La.  GeoL  Surv.,  1871,  p.  19. 

II  Hopkins  ist  An.  Rept.  La.  GeoL  Surv.,  1870,  p.  100. 

§  Proc.  U.  S.  NaL  Mus.,  voL  11,  pp.  89-91,  pL  30,  1888. 


Iij  General  Geology  :  Lafayette  99 

deposits.  The  material  which  has  been  lumped  together,  in 
Louisiana,  as  Grand  Gulf  lies  between  the  Vicksburg  (Lower 
Oligocene)  and  the  upper  Pliocene.  It  may  therefore  represent 
Upper  Oligocene,  Miocene  or  Pliocene.  In  Mississippi  the 
conditions  are  a  little  more  satisfactory.  The  collections  of 
Johnson  at  Vernal  P.  O.  demonstrated  that  the  upper  part  of 
Hilgard's  Grand  Gulf,  in  that  region,  is  Chesepeake  Miocene. 
But  the  Alabama  and  Florida  sections  were  needed  to  show  the 
age  of  the  Grand  Gulf  proper.*  It  has  there  been  shown  that 
the  typical  Grand  Gulf  passes  under  the  Oak  Grove  beds,  and 
hence  is  probabh-  equivalent  to  the  Chatahoochie  or  Upper 
Oligocene  beds.  The  Grand  Gulf  beds  above  the  typical  Grand 
Gulf  and  below  the  Pascagoula  clays  pass  into  the  Oak  Grove 
sands,  which  are  now  regarded  bj'^  Dall  as  transitional  between 
the  Oligocene  and  Miocene,  j 

LAFAYETTE! 

Historical 

Origin  of  the  Term  Lafayette 

The  attention  of  geologists  engaged  in  work  on  the  southern 
coastal  plain  was  earl)^  attracted  by  beds  of  brightly  colored 
sands  and  gravels  extending  over  wide  areas.  The  color  of 
these  deposits  soon  suggested  a  name  ;  they  were  called  "Orange 
Sand"  by  Safford  in  1856  ||.  Hilgard  adopted  the  term  in  his 
Mississippi  report  and  gave  the  most  complete  description  of 
the  deposits   that  has  been   made  up  to  the   time  of  McGee's 


*  Smith,  Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  1894,  pp.  104-107  ;  Dall  and  Stanley-Brown 
Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  5,  p.  164,  1894. 

f  A  Table  of  North  American  Tertiary  Horizons,  Correlated  with  One 
Another  and  with  Those  of  the  Western  Europe,  with  Annotations  by 
Wm.  H.  Dall,  18th  An.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  1896-97,  Part  II,  p.  340^ 
1898. 

:}:  See  article  by  W  J  McGee. — The  Lafayette  Formation,  12th  Ann.  Rept. 
U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  1891,  pp.  347-521,  which  is  by  far  the  most  complete 
account  of  the  subject  yet  published. 

II  Geol.  Recon.  of  Tenn.  by  J.  M.  Safford,  1856,  pp.  14S-162.  Quoted  by 
McGee. 


loo  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

report  in  the  12th  Aunual  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey. 

Safford  referred  the  Orange  Sand  to  the  Cretaceous,  to  which 
only  a  portion  of  his  deposits  belonged,  but  later  called  it  Ter- 
tiary and  proposed  a  new  name  the  "  Bluff  Gravel"  for  the  por- 
tion which  was  of  presumably  Quarternary  age*.  Hilgard 
maintained  that  the  deposit  was  of  Quarternary  age  and  was  a 
southern  equivalent  of  the  northern  drift.  He  supposed  that 
the  deposit  originated  in  the  great  floods  of  water  issuing  from 
the  ice  front.  This  idea  has  given  rise  to  the  names  "Drift," 
"southern  Drift"  and  "Stratified  Drift"  which  have  been 
applied  to  this  formation. 

The  uncertain  meaning  of  the  term  Orange  Sand  caused  the 
adoption  in  1891  of  the  term  Lafayette  formation,  from  the 
typical  localit}^  in  Lafayette  county,  Mississippi  where  Hilgard 
first  studied  and  named  the  formation.  The  opinion  now  gener- 
ally held  is  that  the  Lafayette  is  a  littoral  or  coastal  deposit  of 
late  Pliocene  age  and  hence  anterior  to  the  glacial  period.  It 
has  no  connection  whatever  with  the  great  sheets  of  true  drift 
or  till  brought  down  by  the  glaciers. 

Features  of  the  Formation  in  Louisiana 

Definitive  Features  of  the  Deposits 

In  Louisiana  the  onl}^  criterion  for  the  determination  of  the 
beds  of  this  formation  seems  to  be  the  chert  and  quartz  pebbles, 
often  with  casts  of  Paleozoic  fossils,  which  portions  of  the 
beds  contain.  The  lithological  resemblance  of  the  sands  of  this 
formation  to  the  \teathered  sands  of  the  underlying  deposits  is 
so  close  that  it  is  impossible  to  differentiate  them.  This  resem- 
blance has  led  to  many  incorrect  references  of  red  sandy  mater- 
ial to  the  Lafayette.  Thus,  Hopkins  refers  the  iron  bearing 
sandstone  common  around  Rocky  Mount  and  in  all  the  higher 
hills  of  northern  Bossier,  Claiborne,  Jackson  and  Union  parishes 
to  the  Drift.  Harris  has  collected  Lower  Claiborne  fossils  in 
the  Rocky  Mount  material  and  is  inclined  to  regard  the  fossils 
as  being  in  situ.     Veatch  has  obtained  a  series  of  very  perfect 

*  Geol.  of  Tenn.,  1869,  pp.  432-433.  • 


11]  General  Geology  :  Lafayette  ioi 

casts,  preserving  to  an  extreme  degree  all  the  fine  surface  sculp- 
turing of  the  shells,  from  very  coarse  ferruginous  sandstone 
about  nine  miles  west  of  Ruston.  lycrch  seems  to  have  made  an 
error  in  his  first  report*  where  he  refers  the  red  sands 
and  sandy  clays,  which  form  so  large  a  part  of  the  surface  of 
northern  Louisiana,  to  the  Lafayette.  Vaughan  has  shown,  and 
the  observations  of  the  present  survey  support  his  conclusions, 
that  the  red  sands  are  in  part,    at  least,    Lower  Claiborne. f 

Distribution  of  the  Gravels 

The  observations  in  the  State  have  not  yet  been  sufficient  to 
show  clearly  the  minor  features  of  the  distribution  of  gravels  ; 
but  the  main  localities  are  known. 

East  of  the  Mississippi. — In  the  hill  lands,  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river  the  gravel  is  very  well  developed.  It  there 
overlies  the  Grand  Gulf  beds  and  seems  to  pass  under  the  Port 
Hudson.  Regarding  the  distribution  of  the  gravel  in  the 
Florida  parishes  Hopkins  says:  In  "Washington  Parish  the 
pebbles  are  common.  About  five  miles  east  of  the  Tangipahoa 
these  have  disappeared  and  the  deposit  is  a  yellow  clay,  with 
fragments  of  brown  hematite  and  red  ochre.  On  Beaver  creek, 
and  to  the  west  of  Tangipahoa,  it  has  changed  to  a  coherent 
sand  of  an  intense  red  color.  Red  and  yellow  clay  again,  with 
a  few  quartz  pebbles,  are  seen  on  the  road  to  Greensburg,  and 
red  sand  at  that  place.  Violet  and  yellow  clay  with  a  peculiar 
chocolate  shale,  are  found  between  this  point  and  the  Amite 
river.  Then  the  pebbles  recommence  and  are  fossiliferous  as 
usual.  Clinton  and  Jackson  are  built  upon  them.  They  under- 
lie the  bluff  to  within  a  mile  of  the  river  at  Bayou  Sara.  J  The 
southernmost  point  on  the  Mississippi  at  which  Lafayette  gravels 
have  been  found  is  reported  by  McGee  as  in  a  road  cut  "  seven 
or  eight  miles  south-southeast  of  Bayou  Sara,  a  mile  west  of 
Thompson's  bayou,  and  midway  between  Fairview  and  Star 
Hill  plantation. § 

*Bull.  La.  State  Expt.  Stations  :     Geol.  and  Agr.  part  I,  pp.  24-26,  1892. 
t  BulL  U.  S.  GeoL  Surv.  No.  142,  1S96,  pp.  20-22,  i8q6. 
:):  Second  Annual  Report  GeoL  Surv.,  La.,  1871,  p.  22. 
^  Twelfth  Annual  Report  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.  p.  430. 


I02  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Along  the  northern  and  southern  borders  of  the  Grand  Gulf. — 
West  of  the  Mississippi  the  gravel  is  reported  well  developed  on 
both  the  northern  and  southern  borders  of  the  Grand  Gulf. 
Clendenin  reports  a  very  extensive  gravel  pit  in  the  hills  of 
southern  Rapides,  east  of  the  Kansas  City,  Watkins  and  Gulf 
railroad  where  large  quantities  of  gravel  are  obtained  for  rail- 
road ballast.*  According  to  Hopkins  it  is  quite  common  between 
Cheneyville  and  the  lime  kiln  near  Bayou  Chicot. f  Gravel  is 
extremely  abundant  along  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad  from 
Alexandria  as  far  north  as  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Grand 
Gulf,  where  it  suddenly  ceases.  All  along  the  northern  line  of 
the  Grand  Gulf,  gravel  seems  to  be  quite  abundant.  It  has 
been  reported  by  Hopkins  from  the  Harrisonburg  hills. J  It  has 
been  seen  by  the  junior  author  on  the  northern  edge  of  the 
Grand  Gulf  just  south  of  Saddle  bayou  on  the  eastern  road  from 
Colfax  to  Winnfield  ;  in  the  Kisatchie  hills  ;  and  in  the  hills 
south  of  Toro  bayou  along  the  K.  C.  P.  and  G.  R.  R. 

Aronnd  Many  and  Sabinetown. — North  of  the  last  locality 
referred  to  above  is  a  great  stretch  of  country  covered  with 
fossiliferous  Jackson  and  Lower  Claiborne.  On  the  railroad, 
the  first  place  where  gravels  are  exposed  north  of  the  Grand 
Gulf  territory  is  about  two  miles  south  of  Many  on  about  the 
line  of  parting  between  the  Lower  Claiborne  and  the  Lignitic. 
Going  west  from  Many  no  gravel  is  seen  until  the  vicinit}-  of 
Sabinetown  is  reached.  The  gravel  caps  the  first  big  bluff  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river  above  Sabinetown  and  on  the  top  of 
Sabinetown  bluff  is  extremely  well  developed.  The  top  of  the 
bluff  at  Pendletown  is  covered  with  extremely  red  sand  but  no 
gravel  was  seen  in  it.  x\t  the  mouth  of  Bayou  Negreet 
Harris  found  a  pebble  conglomerate  containing  Lower  Claiborne 
fossils.  The  fossils  were  poorly  preserved  and  may  have  been 
redeposited. 

The  Black  lake  bayou  gravel  train. —  In  the  northern  part 
of  the  state  the  gravel  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  two 
great    gravel    trains   which  were    first    pointed   out    by    Lerch. 

*Bull.  La.  State  Exp.  Sta;   GeoL  and  Agr.,  part  III,  1S96,  p.  214. 
f  2d  Ann.  Rept.  GeoL  Surv.  p.  22. 
First  Annual  Rept.  La.  GeoL  .Surv.,  1870,  pp.  99,  102. 


II]         General  Geology  :  Lafayette 


103 


The  most  important  and  continuous  is  the  Black  lake  bayou  and 
Dauchite  bayou  deposit.  Between  Shongaloo  and  Sykes  ferry 
the  gravel  is  quite  abundant.  At  old  Haynesville  great  quanti- 
ties crop  out  in  the  hillsides.  The  territory  between  the  two 
localities  was  not  passed  over,  but  it  seems  probable  that  the  two 
deposits  are  connected.  Going  south  the  gravel  ridge  narrows. 
No  northern  gravels  are  found  on  the  red  lands  in  T.  21  N.,  R. 
9  W.  At  Minden  gravel  was  seen  from  about  half  a  mile  west 
of  the  Dauchite  bridge  to  a  little  beyond  Crow's  bayou  on  the 
Homer  road.  On  the  large  hill  between  Minden  and  the  bridge 
it  is  common  to  a  height  of  65  feet  above  the  bottoms.  Between 
Minden  and  Sibley  nearly  all  the  hillsides  show  gravel. 
In  the  railroad  cut  at  the  latter  place  17  feet  of  gravel  and  cross- 
bedded  sands  are  exposed.  Pebbles  as  large  as  a  man's  fist  are 
seen  here.  This  gravel  was  found  as  far  east  as  Black  lake 
bayou.  The  country  between  Sibley  and  King's  salt  works  was 
not  personally  examined,  but  we  are  credibly  informed  that 
gravel  is  common.  Pebble  conglomerate  is  often  seen  on  the 
hills  around  King's  salt  works,  and  on  the  Sparta-Campti  road 
betw^een  Castor  and  Toby  creeks.  Just  south  of  this  exposure  is 
a  very  fossiliferous  Lower  Claiborne  prairie  and  no  more  gravel 
occurs  between  here  and  Lake  village.  On  the  west  side  of 
Black  lake  bayou,  between  Lake  village  and  Coushatta,  the 
gravel  band  is  three  or  four  miles  wide.  At  Black  lake  the 
gravel  again  occurs  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  bayou.  Here  it  is 
in  close  proximity  to  fossiliferous  Lower  Claiborne  prairies.  The 
gravel  occurs  on  the  hillsides  in  Sec.  4,  11  N.,  6  W.  The  very 
crest  of  the  hill  is  covered  with  Osterea  falciformis  and  O. 
johnsoni. 

At  Grand  Ecore  ten  feet  of  white  and  yellow  chert  pebbles  and 
sand  cap  the  bluflf.  Thej^  extend  scarcely  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
from  the  river. 

Saint  Maurice  and  Montgomery . — At  Saint  Maurice  large 
quartz  boulders  are  found  on  the  hillsides  twenty  to  forty  feet 
above  the  fossiliferous  Lower  Claiborne  in  the  bed  of  Saline 
bayou. 

From  3  to  4  miles  northeast  of  Montgomery,  on  the  east  side 
of  Bayou  Nantaches,  there  are  quite  prominent  escarpments  of 


I04  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

sandstone  which  in  turn  are  overlaid  by  beds  of  white  quartz 
gravel  and  conglomerate.  Above  the  gravel  are  from  50  to  75 
feet  of  yellow  and  white  sands. 

Ouachita  river  gravel  train.  — The  gravel  train  along  the 
Ouachita  is  not  nearlj^  so  extensive.  It  is  reported  from  about  12 
miles  south  of  Monroe.  About  three  miles  north,  on  Col. 
Jones'  stock  farm,  there  is  a  large  gravel  pit  which  is  of  great 
local  importance.  Gravel  is  seen  along  the  railroad  for  two 
miles  west  of  Monroe.  A  prolongation  of  the  same  deposit 
appears  in  force  at  the  bluff  about  a  mile  above  the  mouth  of 
the  D'Arbonne  and  at  Ouachita  city.  At  Ouachita  city  the 
gravel  band  is  about  three  miles  wide. 

In  noriher^i  Union  and  Claiborne. — Gravel  localities  are  sprink- 
led all  over  the  northern  part  of  Union  and  northern  Claiborne. 
The  following  localities  may  be  mentioned  :  near  L'Outre  bridge 
on  the  Spearsville-Ouachita  city  road  ;  south  of  Cherry  Ridge  ; 
around  Farmersville  and  as  far  south  as  the  D'Arbonne  ;  on  the 
hills  west  of  Corney  ferry,  three  or  four  miles  from  Farmersville  ; 
at  the  Corney  bridge  on  the  Junction  city-Lisbon  road  ;  on  the 
hills  on  the  south  side  of  Middle  Fork  bottoms  near  Colquett 
bridge  ;  and  between  Colquett  and  Gordon  in  occasional  patches. 

Around  the  Cretaceous  outcrops. — Besides  these  localities  sev- 
eral of  the  so-called  Cretaceous  outcrops  show  gravel  deposits, 
viz. :  Rayburn's  salt  works  and  the  Five  Islands.  For  information 
on  the  gravel  of  the  Five  Islands  see  special  report. 

Localities  %vhere  the  gravels  are  found  in  wells. — Besides  these 
surface  outcrops  wells  have  in  several  places  revealed  the  pres- 
ence of  beds  of  sands  and  gravel  which  presumably  belong  to 
this  formation.  A  bed  of  gravel  from  20  to  40  feet  thick  seems 
to  underlie  the  Red  river  valley  in  the  vicinity  of  Shreveport  at 
a  depth  of  from  50  to  80  feet.  Hopkins  reports  gravel  under 
the  Avoyelles  prairie  at  a  depth  of  40  feet.  In  nearly  all  the 
Port  Hudson  territory  deep  wells  reach  the  Lafayette  gravels. 

Regions  with  no  Gravel 

Four  principal  regions  in  which  no  gravel  has  been  observed 
may  be  thus  outlined  :  (i)  The  alluvial  lands  ;  (2)  the  country 
overlaid  by  the    Port    Hudson  ;     (3)   an  area  centrally   located 


II]  General  Geology  :  Lafayette  105 

between  the  Red,  the  Ouachita  and  the  State  line  including 
Caldwell,  the  major  part  of  Winn,  Jackson,  eastern  Bienville, 
southeastern  Claiborne,  the  major  part  of  Lincoln  and  the  west- 
ern part  of  Ouachita  parishes  ;  (4)  all  the  territor)^  lying  west  of 
the  Black  lake  gravel  train  and  north  of  the  Grand  Gulf  except 
the  area  about  Many  and  Sabinetown. 

Thickness  of  the  Deposit 
In  northern  Louisiana  exposures  of  a  greater  thickness  than 
10  or  20  feet  seem  to  be  rather  rare.  In  the  region  of  Minden 
the  deposit  is  at  least  60  or  70  feet  thick.  In  southern  Louisi- 
ana it  shows  a  thickness  in  the  Lake  Charles  wells  of  from  150 
to  over  200  feet.  On  Cote  Carline,  Grande  Cote  and  Belle  Isle 
the  borings  show  that  a  thickness  of  200  feet  is  by  no  means 
uncommon.  Hole  No.  7  on  Cote  Carline,  which  is  for  the  most 
part  in  material  of  presumably  Lafayette  age,  is  442  feet  deep. 
On  Belle  Isle  400  feet  of  sand  is  recorded  in  hole  No.  2. 

Conclusions 
There  can  be  little  question  that  these  deposits  were  all  formed 
in  the  same  way  and  that  they  represent  shore  deposits.  There 
does  seem,  however,  to  be  room  for  a  reasonable  doubt  that  they 
were  formed  at  the  same  time.  It  is  seen  in  the  beginning 
that  the  argument  for  the  unity  of  a  deposit  which  is  differenti- 
ated from  other  deposits  merely  by  the  presence  or  absence  of 
chert  and  quartz  gravel  is  not  very  strong.  Hilgard  noticed  the 
very  peculiar  irregularity  of  the  distribution  of  the  gravel  in 
Mississippi  and  the  same  has  since  been  found  true  in  Alabama. 
In  Alabama  gravel  occurs  to  a  very  limited  extent  or  not  at  all 
(i)  over  the  territory  of  the  Rotten  limestone,  (2)  over  the  Black 
bluff  or  basal  Lignitic  and  (3)  over  parts  of  the  Jackson  or  white 
Limestone.*  In  Mississippi  it  is  found  to  a  very  limited  extent 
(i)  over  the  territory  of  the  Jackson,  being  entirely  absent  in 
the  prairies  ;  (2)  it  is  wanting  in  large  portions  of  the  territory 
occupied  by  the  Rotten  Limestone  of  the  Cretaceous  (3)  in  the 
Flatwoods  region  [Midway]  of  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
State  t-     This  absence  of  the  gravel  from  the  most  calcareous 

*Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  1894,  p.  68. 
fMiss.  Rept.,  i860,  p.  5. 


io6  Geological  Survp:y  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

deep-sea  deposits  seems  hardly  well  explained  by  the  theory  of 
the  common  time  origin  of  these  deposits.  The  Arkansas 
Orange  Sand  or  Lafayette  as  identified  by  McGee  seems  capable 
of  division.  Harris  found  a  portion  of  the  pebble  beds  passing 
beneath  the  Midway  Eocene  in  the  vicinity  of  Little  Rock.  The 
Plateau  Gravels  of  Hill  contain  Cretaceous  fossils  in  Clark 
county,  and  Harris  is  inclined  to  regard  the  fossils  as  of  the 
same  age  as  the  gravel. 

Too  little  is  known  of  the  gravels  of  Louisiana  to  justify  any 
very  conclusive  statements,  and  many  years  must  elapse  before 
the  problem  can  be  fully  worked  out,  but  the  facts  we  know  at 
present  seem  to  suggest  at  least  a  working  hypothesis.  The 
band  of  pebbles  which  appears  along  the  southern  edge  of  the 
Grand  Gulf  seems  to  pass  beneath  the  Port  Hudson  and  to  be 
the  gravel  which  is  struck  in  deep  wells  sunk  in  the  Port  Hud- 
son territory.  It  is  the  time  equivalent  of  the  Lafayette  of 
McGee.  The  band  of  gravel  which  follows  the  escarpment 
which  marks  the  northern  limit  of  the  Grand  Gulf  does  not 
extend,  to  any  appreciable  extent,  over  the  adjacent  lower 
territory  of  the  Jackson.*  The  question  then  becomes,  has  the 
time  since  the  deposition  of  the  Lafayette  been  sufficient  for  the 
erosion  of  a  strip  of  gravel  several  miles  wide  along  a  course 
which  cuts  the  principal  streams  at  right  angles?  The  gravel 
train  in  the  vicinity  of  Monroe  lies  in  about  the  position  and 
direction  of  the  shore  line  in  the  Jackson  period.  The  gravel 
at  Many  andSabinetownis  in  about  the  position  of  the  Claiborne 
shore-line.  The  Black  lake  bayou  gravel  train  occupies  a 
questionable  position.  Much  of  it  lies  along  a  line  between  the 
Lignitic  and  Lower  Claiborne  but  seems  too  far  east  to  represent 
the  Claiborne  shore-line.  Indeed  if  the  gravel  in  Sec.  4,  11  N., 
6  W.,  be  considered  a  part  of  it,  it  is  younger  than  the  Claiborne. 
We  are  hardly  prepared  to  affirm  that  this  is  a  true  explanation 
of  the  deposition  of  the  gravel   as  the  facts  at  hand  are  entirely 


*  Hopkins,  ist  Annual  Rept.  La.  GeoL  .Surv.,  p.  104,  says  :  "  The  inter- 
vening region  of  the  Jackson  and  Vicksburg  is  lower  ;  and  often  entirely 
bare  of  drift  as  is  the  case  with  marly  regions  of  the  Grand  Gulf."  When- 
ever the  northern  edge  of  the  Grand  Gulf  was  passed  by  the  present 
writers  no  gravel  was  observed  even  on  the  Jackson. 


II]  General  Geology  :  Quaternary 


107 


too  meagre  to  justify  such  a  statement.  But  it  is  felt  that  as 
the  stratigraphy  of  the  Southern  states  is  more  carefully  worked 
out  the  positions  of  some  of  the  gravel  beds,  which  now  seem 
ver}^  strange  will  become  quite  clear,  and  that  parts  of  them  will 
be  found  to  be  the  true  equivalents  of  adjoining  fossiliferous  beds. 

QUATERNARY 

Classification 

HlSTORICAI, 

The  literature  on  the  Quaternary  deposits  of  Louisiana  is  quite 
voluminous.  The  great  river  and  its  delta  have  been  studied 
and  written  about  since  the  first  settlement  of  the  country. 
Commerce  demanded  it ;  and  the  scientific  man  found  in  the  river 
and  flood  plain,  problems  of  ver}-  great  interest.  Some  of  these 
problems  are  so  large  and  the  observed  data  so  small  that  our 
present  knowledge  is  by  no  means  satisfactory.  Their  elucida- 
tion will  require  some  years  of  very  careful  hard  work. 

Lyell. — Passing  over  the  earlj-  observations  of  the  U.  S. 
Engineers  engaged  in  work  on  the  river  and  of  the  earlier 
unpublished  part  of  the  work  of  Forshey  and  Riddel  we  come  to 
Sir  Charles  Lyell.  The  visit  of  this  great  geologist,  and  his 
subsequent  publications  may  be  considered  the  beginning  of 
the  present  study  of  the  river  deposits.  He  conceived  for  the 
alluvial  deposits  a  thickness  of  at  least  500  feet  and  on  this  based 
his  calculation  of  67,000  j^ears  as  the  age  of  the  delta.  He 
recognized  the  loess,  and  at  Port  Hudson  saw  deposits  which  he 
considered  to  be  of  alluvial  formation.^ 

Hilgard.—  \n\ns  Mississippi  Report,  i860,  Hilgard  proposed 
the  name  Coast  Pliocene  for  a  series  of  recent,  partly  cypress 
swamp,  partly  marine  beds  with  recent  shells,  occupjnng  a  strip 
along  the  Gulf  Coast  from  12  to  20  miles  wide.  This  has  its 
homologue  along  the  whole  southern  coast  of  Louisiana.  In 
the  same  report  he  recognized  and  named  the  Yellow  Loam.f 


*  Second  visit  to  the  United  States,  3d  Ed.,  1855,  p.  250  ;  also  Principles 
of  Geology,  nth  Ed.,  p.  455. 

f  Report  on  the  Geology  and  Agriculture  of  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
i860,  p.  197. 


io8  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

After  his  examination  of  Port  Hudson  and  his  trip  through 
southern  lyouisiana  he  recognized  over  the  whole  area  the  equiva- 
lents of  his  Coast  Pilocene,  and  proposed  for  the  whole  the  name 
Port  Hudson  group.*  The  layer  of  blue  clayf  which  the  labors 
of  Humphreys  and  Abbott  had  revealed  to  be  very  widespread 
in  the  bottoms,  and  which  they  referred  to  a  number  of  different 
geological  horizons,  from  the  Cretaceous  up,  Hilgard  referred  to 
the  Port  Hudson.  J  He  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  present 
deposits  of  the  river  are  of  inconsiderable  thickness  ;  a  view 
which  he  has  maintained  in  all  his  subsequent  writings. 

Johnso7i. — Investigations  by  Mr.  I,.  C.  Johnson  in  1890,  in 
southern  Mississippi  and  in  the  region  north  of  lyake  Pontchar- 
train,  in  the  coastal  phase  of  the  Port  Hudson,  led  him  to  pro- 
pose for  it  the  name  Pontchartrain  clays. §  At  the  same  time  he 
proposed  the  name  Biloxi  sands  for  the  more  recent  coastal 
formations.  The  difficulty  in  distinguishing  between  the  two 
beds,  which  were  formed  under  very  similar  conditions,  led  to 
the  extension  of  the  meaning  of  Biloxi  sands  to  include  the 
Pontchartrain  clays.  || 

McGee. — In  his  correlation  of  the  coastal  deposits  McGee 
includes  all  the  Quaternary  deposits  in  Louisiana,  except  the 
most  recent  alluvium,  under  the  Columbia  formation.^  He 
restricts  the  Orange  Sand,  as  used  by  Safford  in  i888,ff  to  the 
basal  portions  of  the  Yellew  Loam. 


*Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d  series,  vol.  48.  p.  332,  1S69. 

t  Hydraulics  and  Physics  of  the  Mississippi  River,  p.  99. 

XK-xn.  Jour.  Sci.,  3d  series,  vol.  47,  p.  79  ;  also  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  3d  series, 
vol.  2,  pp  391-404;  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Proc.,vol.  20,  pp.  222-236. 

§  BuH.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  2,  pp   20-25,  1890. 

II  Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  1894,  p.  41. 

Tf  The  Lafayette  formation  by  W  J  McGee,  12th  Annual  Report  U.S. 
Geol.  Surv.,  Part  I,  p.  392. 

ff  Agricultural  and  Geological  Map  of  Tennessee  (J.  M.  Safford,  State 
Geologist),  1888. 


11]  General  Geology  :  Quaternary  109 

TABLE  OF  LOUISIANA   QUATERNARY   FORMATIONS 


River  Development 


Costal  Development 


Alluvium  Coastal  Marshes 

Biloxi  Sands 


Yellow  Loam  Loess         I  Pq1„_,       f  Chocolate  Colored  Loam  ~|  g-,      • 
Fluviatile  Port  Hudson  I      ,.      '      j  Yellow  Loam  I       c'^^fic 

or  Old  Alluvium      [  /Moa^.-^  "i  Ponchartrain  Clays  or         [-  ,^  ,  ^ 
Basal  Gravel  j  ^mci^ee;   |  Marine  Port  Hudson   pJ°^°. 

L  Coast  Pliocene  (Hilgard)  J      ^°°^ 


DEVEIvOPMENT  AND    CHARACTERISTICS   OF  LOUIS- 
IANA QUATERNARY  FORMATION 

MANNER    OF    FORMATION 

Natural  periods  in  the  Quaternary  of  Louisiana. — The  history 
of  the  Eouisiana  Quaternary  seems  to  be  divisible  into  three 
parts  :  a  long  period  of  deposition,  with  varying  conditions  in 
altitude  and  consequent  differences  in  the  character  of  sediment 
deposited  ;  a  period  of  erosion  ;  and  the  present,  comparatively 
recent  period  of  deposition. 

First  period  of  stibsidence. — In  the  beginning  of  this  period  the 
land  must  have  stood  over  248  feet*  higher  in  the  northern  part 
of  lyousiana  than  it  does  to-day.  In  the  valley  where  the  stream 
was  sufficiently  rapid,  portions  of  the  lyafayette  gravels  were 
re-deposited  or  other  gravel  brought  down  by  the  river  from  the 
north.  The  deposition  of  gravel  would  naturally  be  greatest  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  valley  while  nearer  the  coast  the  material 
would  be  finer.  Along  the  coast,  deposits  of  clay  and  sand  would 
be  formed,  which  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  they  would  contain 
Rangia  and  other  brackish  water  molluscs,  while  at  a  distance 
from  the  main  outlet  of  the  river  the  deposits  would  contain 
recent  marine  species.    As  the  subsidence  progressed  the  deposi- 

*  The  depth  of  the  Quaternary  deposits  at  Lake  Providence. — Hilgard  and 
Hopkins,  Report  on  Borings  between  Memphis  and  Vicksburg,  48th  Cong., 
1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  19,  1884,  p.  481. 


no  Geological  Survky  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

tion  of  saud  and  gravel  in  the  main  valle}'  would  cease  and  their 
place  be  taken  by  fine  cypress  swamp  clays.  In  these  cypress 
swamp  clays  local  beds  of  sand  and  loam  were  formed  along  the 
sluggish  streams  which  meander  aimlessly  through  the  valley. 

In  the  Mississippi  valley  the  irregular  melting  of  the  glaciers 
which  occupied  the  whole  region  north  of  the  Ohio  and  Missouri 
rivers  caused  great  floods  which  brought  with  them  large  quan- 
tities of  glacial  rock  meal.  At  times  this  flood  may  even  have 
overflowed  the  bounding  hills  or  bluffs  of  the  old  valley  and 
formed  on  their  summits  great  natural  levees  of  silt  even  as  the 
pigmy  Mississippi  does  to-day.  At  any  rate  these  periodical 
floods,  caused  by  variations  in  temperature  along  the  ice  front, 
must  have  formed  extensive  mud  flats,  as  wide  as  the  river 
valley,  and  winds  blowing  over  them  would  experience  no  diflS- 
culty  in  transporting  this  impalpable  silt  to  the  summits  of  the 
bordering  hills. 

Period  of  elevation. — At  the  close  of  this  subsidence  in  which 
the  land  reached  a  level  a  hundred  feet*  lower  than  to-day,  a 
period  of  elevation  commenced.  During  this  time  an  eleva- 
tion slightly  above  the  present  was  reached  and  the  river 
cut  out  the  deposits  of  the  preceding  period.  The  amount 
of  this  excavation  can  be  judged  by  the  height  of  the  Port  Hud- 
son bluffs  and  the  Opelousas,  Carrencro  and  Cte  Gelee  hills. 
To  this  is  to  be  added  the  ver}'  inconsiderable  depth  of  the  older 
material  below  the  present  alluvium.  In  the  upper  Red  river 
valley,  this  excavation  amounted  to  about  60  feet. 

Present  period  of  szibsidence. — At  the  close  of  this  elevation  the 
present  period  of  subsidence  commenced  and  with  it  the  deposi- 
tion of  the  alluvium.  That  a  subsidence  is  going  on  is 
evidenced  by  a  number  of  facts  :  (i)  by  the  drowned  condition 
of  the  mouths   of  the    majority   of  coastal   rivers  ;     (2)   by  the 

*If  the  yellow  loam  and  the  Icess  are  not  considered,  a  subsidence  of  this 
amount  seems  to  be  quite  capable  of  producing  the  deposits  observed  in  the 
Mississippi  valley.  The  origin  of  the  loess  is  so  little  understood  that  an 
assumption  that  the  subsidence  was  equal  to  the  height  of  the  highest  loess 
above  sea  level  seems  hardly  well  founded.  If  the  subsidence  was  so  great, 
about  500  feet,  as  the  estiiarian  theory  of  the  origin  of  loess  demands,  we 
should  find  well  marked  marine  forms  at  Baton  Rouge  and  Port  Hudson. 


II]  General  Geology  :  Quaternary  i  i  i 

burial  of  Indian  shell  heaps  and  mounds  with  recent  material  as 
at  Belle  Isle  and  in  man\-  mounds  along  the  Mississippi  coast  ;* 
(3)  by  the  formation  of  numerous  long  dune-shaped  islands  just 
off  the  coast  and  along  the  seaward  margin  of  the  coastal 
marshes  which  are  features  of  a  subsiding  coast ;  f  (4)  by  the 
observations  of  Maj.  Ouinn,  U.  S.  E.,  who  reported  the  extra- 
ordinary subsidence  of  one  foot  between  1875  and  1894;;}:  (5) 
from  the  almost  stationary  condition  of  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi. 

The  Basal  Gravel  § 

Cha7-acteristics  and  development. — The  basal  portions  of  the 
Quaternary  which  were  formed  by  the  redeposition  of  some  of 
the  preceding  gravel  have  been  definitel)'  recognized  in  but  tw^o 
localities  in  the  State  because  of  the  difficulty  in  separating  them 
from  the  underlying  Lafayette.  In  the  Lake  Providence  bor- 
ings there  are  certain  beds  which  Hilgard  is  inclined  to  regard 
as  basal  Port  Hudson.  ||  McGee  reports  the  basal  gravel  7  or 
8  miles  south-southeast  of  Bayou  Sara  and  in  the  region  between 
Bayou  Sara  and  the  state  line.^*  He  also  states  that  the  basal 
gravel  was  found  in  the  New  Orleans  well  and  below  the  Cal- 
casieu prairie,  a  statement  which  seems  to  require  further  proof. 
The  low  level  Red  river  gravels,  which  have  been  provisionally 
referred  to  the  Lafayette,   may  belong  to  this  period. 

The  Port  Hudson 

Origin  of  Term. — In  the  American  Journal  of  Science  for 
November,  1869,  Hilgard  proposed  the  name  Port  Hudson  for  a 
group  of  swamp,  estuarine,  bayou  and  marine  claj's  and  sands 
covering  parts  of  Louisiana   and  Mississippi.     The    formation 

*  Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  1894,  pp.  45-46. 

f  Eastern  Sea  Coast  Marshes  by  N.  S.  Shaler,  6th  Ann.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol. 
Sur.,  1885,  p.  360  ;  also  W  J  McGee,  Gulf  of  Mexico  as  a  Measure  of  Isos- 
tacy.  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  44.  p.  187. 

:{: Quoted  in  Annual  Cyclopaedia  for  1895,  Appleton  and  Co.,  p.  427.  We 
have  not  been  able  to  find  this  statement  in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the 
Chief  of  Engineers  from  which  it  seems  to  have  been  taken. 

II  48th  Cong.  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  19,  1884,  p.  480. 

§  McGee,  12th  An.  Rep.  U.  S.  Geol.  Sur.,  part  i,  p.  499. 

**  I2th  An.  Rep.  U.  S.  Geol.  Sur.,  part  i,  pp.  430-431. 


112  Geological  Survey  of  Loulsiana  [Sect. 

was  named  from  Port  Hudson,  Louisiana,  where  the  typical 
exposure  is  found. 

General  characteristics. — This  formation  consists  of  beds  of 
dark  colored  clays,  commonly  blue,  black  or  green  but  some- 
times gray  and  yellow,  containing  calcareous  concretions  and 
occasional  beds  of  gray  sand  and  slit.  The  blue  clay  which  is 
probably  the  most  distinctive  bed  commonly  contains  stumps  and 
trunks  of  cypress  and  other  lowland  trees. 

It  shows  two  very  distinct  facies  :  a  marine  and  fresh  water. 
Along  the  gulf  coast  the  littoral  portion  of  the  formation  com- 
monly contains  marine  and,  near  the  old  coast  line,  brackish  water 
shells.  The  river  portions  contain  cypress  stumps,  driftwood 
and  occasional  fresh  water  shells. 

Synonymy. — This  development  of  marine  facies  has  given  rise 
to  two  very  different  meanings  for  the  term  Port  Hudson.  In 
the  river  where  the  Port  Hudson  is  strongly  differentiated  by 
physical  characters  from  the  loess  and  yellow  loam  and  separated 
from  the  very  similar  recent  deposits  by  an  erosion  interval,  the 
term  Port  Hudson  is  restricted  to  a  fairly  limited  group  of  clays 
at  the  base  of  the  Quaternary  series.  On  the  coast  where  depo- 
sition has  been  going  on  continuously  and  where  the  deposits  of 
to-day  are  forming  under  the  same  conditions  and  contain  the 
same  marine  forms  as  the  earlier  Quaternary  beds,  it  is  impossible 
to  distinguish  between  them.  This  has  led  Hilgard  to  uncon- 
sciously use  the  term  Port  Hudson  in  the  costal  region  to  cover 
everything  except  the  recent  sea  marsh  deposits.  That  is,  in  the 
the  costal  region  the  Port  Hudson  not  only  includes  the  equiv- 
alents of  the  Port  Hudson  of  the  valley  but  the  marine  equiv- 
alents of  the  loess,  the  yellow  loam  and  in  all  probabilit}^  a  part 
of  the  alluvium. 

The  Port  Hudson  bluff,  which  is  the  typical  exposure  for  the 
formation,  represents  only  the  fluviatile  development.  This  led 
Johnson  in  1890*  to  propose  the  name  Pontchartrain  clays  for 
for  the  marine  equivalents  of  the  Port  Hudson.  The  Pontchar- 
trian  clays  consist  of  brownish  or  yellowish  blue  clay  with  sand 
partings,  and  contains  a  few  stumps  and  marine  shells.     At  the 

*  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  vol.  2,  pp.  20-25,  and  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  40,  pp. 
332-333.  1890. 


I]  General  Geology:  Quaternary  113 

same  time  the  term  Biloxi  sand  was  suggested  for  the  recent 
costal  formations,  in  general  equivalent  to  the  recent  alluvium 
of  the  river.  It  was  found  impossible  to  differentiate 
them  in  the  field  and  in  1894  the  Pontchartrain  clays  and  Biloxi 
sands  were  all  included  under  one  head,  the  Biloxi  sands.* 

The  difficulty,  nay  impossibility,  of  distinguishing  between 
the  different  parts  of  the  Quaternary  in  the  coastal  region  has 
given  rise  to  a  very  interesting  discussion  on  the  thickness  of 
the  recent  alluvium  in  the  delta  below  New  Orleans.  This 
seems  to  be  one  of  those  points  where  a  person  can  take  either 
side  and  prove  that  he  is  right.  If  the  period  of  the  recent 
alluvium  be  said  to  begin  at  the  time  when  the  cutting  out  of 
the  Port  Hudson  and  loess  deposited  in  the  valley  commenced, 
then  the  delta  formed  of  this  material  would  be  composed  of 
redeposited  Port  Hudson  material  with  marine  shells  and  exactly 
the  same  difficulties  will  be  experienced  in  differentiating  the  two 
deposits  that  are  experienced  both  east  and  west  of  the  delta 
region.  If  the  period  of  the  recent  alluvium  be  defined  as  com- 
mencing when  the  period  of  degredation  ceased,  the  same 
difficulties  will  be  experienced.  Off  the  delta  to  day  marine 
beds  are  forming  which  are  the  time  equivalents  of  the  recent 
alluvium,  but  which  are  in  everyway  similar  to  those  which 
formed  under  similar  conditions  in  the  Port  Hudson  period 
proper.  Indeed  criteria  for  the  separation  of  the  Port  Hudson 
proper  from  the  more  recent  deposits  in  the  lower  delta  region 
seem  to  be  entirely  lacking.  All  our  present  knowledge  seems  to 
justify,  is  to  lump  the  whole  together  as  has  been  done  east  of 
of  the  Mississippi  in  the  Biloxi  sands  and  west  of  the  Mississippi 
in  the  Port  Hud.son. 

Areal  distribution  and  topographical  features. — These  vast  beds 
of  clay,  which  have  not  been  exposed  long  enough  for  the 
development  of  drainage  systems  and  which  from  their  clayey 
nature  prevent  a  perfect  subterranean  drainage,  have  had  a  very 
marked  effect  on  the  topography  of  part  of  Louisiana.  East  of 
the  Mississippi  they  have  given  rise  to  the  "  Pine  flats"  or 
"Pine  meadows"  lying  between  the  pine  hills  and  the  coastal 
marshes.     West  of  the  Mississippi  they  have  produced  another 

*Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  1894,  p.  41. 
H 


114  Geological  Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

series  of  pine  flats  in  Calcasieu  parish  and  the  whole  prairie 
region  of  southern  Louisiana  (see  geological  map).  The  post 
oak  or  upland  flats  of  Red  river  valley  seem  to  belong  to  the 
same  age  also. 

The  Port  Hudson  seems  to  be  distributed  over  the  whole  lower 
Mississippi  valle}-  at  a  slight  depth  below  the  modern  river 
deposits.  In  places  through  the  river  valley  the  Port  Hudson 
appears  to  be  represented  b}'  butte-like  masses  which  were  not 
completely  eroded  during  the  degredation  period  that  followed 
their  deposition.  The  Moorehouse  hills  seem  to  represent  one 
of  these  erosion-formed  masses  of  Port  Hudson  material.  The 
Bayou  Macon  hills  represent  hills  of  the  same  type  which  have 
received  a  coating  of  j^ellow  loam.  Further  down  the  valley 
another  one  of  these  outliers  is  found  in  the  Avoyelles  prairie. 

Thickness  of  the  Port  Hudson. — The  deposition  of  the  Port 
Hudson  on  the  irregular  and  probably  steeph'  inclined  surface  of 
the  Lafayette  gives  to  the  Port  Hudson  a  decidedly  varying 
thickness.  The  wells  about  Lake  Charles  seem  to  indicate  for 
the  formation  an  average  thickness  of  a  little  less  than  200  feet. 
The  great  thickness,  354  feet,  observed  in  the  Kirkman  well  near 
Lake  Charles  appears  to  be  rather  abnormal.  In  the  Mississippi 
valley  at  Lake  Providence  there  are  205  feet  of  Port  Hudson 
under  42  feet  of  recent  alluvium.*  East  of  the  river  the  work 
of  the  Alabama  survey  has  revealed  the  total  thickness  of  the 
Quaternary  to  be  from  200  to  250  feet.f  Of  this  from  10  to  100 
feet  is  supposed  to  be  recent  and  the  balance  Port  Hudson 
proper.  The  New  Orleans  well  had  not  passed  through  the 
Quaternary  deposits  at  a  depth  of  630  feet-  In  Red  river  valley 
in  the  vicinity  of  Shreveport  the  Port  Hudson  is  about  100  feet 
thick.  This  would  seem  to  allow  for  the  Port  Hudson  a  river- 
ward  development  of  from  100  to  200  feet,  a  normal  coastal 
development  of  200  feet  and  an  extreme  development  immedi- 
ately on  the  coast  of  over  600  feet. 

Fossils. — The  most  common  fossils  are  plants  ;  leaves,  trunks 
of  trees  and  roots  occuring  in  many  parts  of  the  formation. 
Vertebrate  remains  have  been  found  in  numerous  parts  of  the 

^Hilgard  48th  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.   19,  p.  493. 
t  Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  1894,  p.  43. 


11]  General  Geology:    Quaternary  115 

State  in  deposits  which  are  the  time  equivalents  of  the  upper 
part  of  the  Port  Hudson  or  the  lower  part  of  the  loess.  The 
early  accounts  of  the  geology  of  the  State  contain  reports  of  find- 
ing mastodon  remains  near  Opelousas.  Carpenter  reports  the 
find  of  a  mastodon  jaw  and  teeth  and  the  tooth  of  a  large  horse 
on  Bayou  Sara  in  the  parish  of  West  Feliciana. f  The  bone  beds 
on  the  Mississippi  just  north  of  the  line  are  extremely  rich.  On 
Petite  Anse  the  remains  of  Mastodon,  Mylodoii,  Equus  and  Elephas 
have  been  reported.  Mastodon  bones  have  been  reported  from 
Port  Hudson  bluifj  ;  from  Cote  Blanche  §;  from  King's  salt 
works;  Price's  salt  works||  :  Rayburn's  salt  works||  ;  Dunbar's 
creek,  West  Feliciana  parish;  and  at  Alsworth's,  6  miles  above 
Baton  Rouge  •". 

In  the  river  exposures  fresh  water  shells  are  occasionalh'  found 
and  Hilgard  has  reported  imperfect  specimens  from  Cote  Blanche 
and  Petite  Anse**.  Marine  forms  are  found  over  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  area  covered  by  the  marine  phase  of  the  Port  Hudson. 
They  have  been  reported  \>y  locality  from  Baj-ou  Sale,  Belle 
Isle,  Opelousas,  Lake  Charles,  Bonnet  Carre  on  the  Mississippi 
river  above  New  Orleans,  New  Orleans,  the  Lake  Borgne  bor- 
ings and  Pontchatoula. 

The  Lcess  and  Yei<i,ow  Loam 

Origin  of  the  term  loess. — The  term  loess,  applied  to  the  very 
fine  yellow  calcareous  silt  of  the  Rhine  valley,  came  into  general 
use  among  European  geologists  earh^  in  this  centur3\  Lyell  in 
1846  recognized  in  certain  deposits  in  the  Mississippi  valley  the 
American  counterpart  of  the  European  deposits. 

Its  great  development  along  the  bluffs  bordering  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  caused  it  to    be   called  the    "Bluff   formation"  by 


*  Dunbar,  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Trans.,  vol.  6,  pp.  40-41,  1801  ;  Duralde,  Am. 
Phil.  Soc.  Trans.,  vol.  6,  pp.  55-58,  1802  ;  Carpenter,  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol. 
35,  PP-  344-346,  1838. 

f  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  34,  pp.  201-203,  1838. 

t  Hilgard,  Smith.   Contr.  No.  248,  vol.  23,  p.  5,  1872,  an  i  other  places. 
g  Ibid,  p,  12. 

II  Hopkins,  2d  An.  Rep.  Geol.  Surv.  La.,  1871,  p.  6. 
\  Hopkins,  3d  An.  Rep.  Geol.  Surv.  La.,  1872,  p.  iSS. 
** Smith.  Contr.  No.  248,  vol.  23,  pp.  12,  18,  1872. 


ii6  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

Swallow  in  1855.*  This  term  has  since  been  used  by  a  number 
of  southern  geologists  but  with  varying  shades  of  meaning. 
Hilgard  used  the  term  as  a  sj^ionym  for  the  loess  proper.  In  his 
second  annual  report  Hopkins  used  the  term  "  Bluff  Period  "  to 
cover  the  whole  of  the  Quaternary  except  the  most  modern 
alluvium. 

Ge?ieral  characteristics  of  the  /(£ss. — The  loess  is  a  homogeneous, 
yellow  or  yellowish-buff,  very  fine  grained,  calcareous,  silty, 
unstratified  loam  ;  commonly  best  developed  along  the  hills  bor- 
dering the  river  channels,  and  thinning  out  and  becoming  less 
characteristic  as  the  distance  from  the  stream  channels  increases. 
It  often  contains  numerous  land  shells  and  occasionally  fresh 
water  shells.  In  its  basal  portions  mastodon  bones  have  been 
found  and  Lyell  reports  the  finding  of  fish  remains  in  the  loess 
at  Vicksburg.f  The  calcareous  matter  forms  very  fantastically 
shaped  concretions  called  loess-kindchen.  Probably  the  most 
distinctive  feature  of  the  loess  is  its  habit  of  weathering  into 
perpendicular  banks. 

In  the  Mississippi  valley  it  seems  to  be  best  developed  along 
the  eastern  bluffs  and  to  grade  southward  into  a  yellow  loam  or 
hardpan.  Typical  loess  is  probably  to  be  found  in  Louisiana 
only  over  a  very  limited  area  in  the  Florida  parishes  along  the 
river  immediately  south  of  the  Mississippi  line  and  at  Sicily 
island.  The  loess,  in  its  modified  form,  the  yellow  loam,  how- 
ever, covers  a  very  considerable  area  in  the  State. 

Origin  of  the  loess. — No  satisfactory  theory  of  the  origin  of 
the  loess  has  yet  been  advanced.  Geologists  are  at  present 
divided  between  two  theories,  the  aqueous  and  the  eolian.  There 
are  several  modifications  of  the  aqueous  :  the  strictl}^  fluviatile, 
the  fiuvio-lacustrine,  the  true  lacustrine  and  the  embayment.]; 
All  geologists  agree  that  the  loess  and  the  5'ellow  loam  are  formed 
of  glacial  products. 

The  Yello7vloam. — The  studies  of  Hilgard  in  Mississippi,  prior 
to  i860,  indicated  the  presence  of  a  stratum  of  unstratified,  non- 


*Geol.  Surv.  of  Missouri,  istand  2d  Annual  Report,  pp.  59-170,  Jefferson 
City,  1855. 

f  Principles  of  Geology,  irth  ed.,  vol.  i,  p.  460. 
:j;  Chamberlin,  Jour.  Geol.,  vol.  5,  1897,  p.  798. 


I]  General  Geology  :    Quaternary  117 

calcareous  yellow  loam  or  brick  clay  often  overlying  the  typical 
loess  and  extending  over  a  much  larger  territorj'.  For  this 
formation  he  proposed  the  name  Yellow  lyoam.^  He  considered 
it  genetically  distinct  from  the  loess.  More  recent  investiga- 
tions have  shown  that  it  not  only  overlies  the  loess  but  some- 
times underlies  and  grades  laterally  into  the  loess.  Thej^  are 
now  regarded  as  one  and  the  same  formation,  the  loess  represent- 
ing a  local  development  of  the  loam. 

Distribution  of  the  Yellow  loam. — On  the  geological  map  of  the 
State  the  thick  deposits  of  loess-like  yellow  loam  on  the  Bayou 
Macon  hills,  on  the  Avoyelles  prairie  and  on  the  uplands  along 
the  Teche  have  all  been  represented  as  belonging  to  this 
deposit.  A  thin  layer  of  the  yellow  loam  covers  a  much 
larger  area.  It  extends  over  nearly  the  whole  of  the  western 
Port  Hudson,  becoming  in  that  region  the  chocolate  colored  loam 
of  Clendenin.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  river  it  is  found  occa- 
sionally overlying  the  Grand  Gulf  and  lyafayette,  and  in  places 
over  the  Port  Hudson.  The  mantle-like  layer  of  yellow  calca- 
reous clay  observed  on  the  Five  Islands  seems  to  be  a  develop- 
ment of  the  yellow  loam. 


The  Ai^luvium  and  Recent  Coastal  Formations 

Rece7it  coastal  formations . — Some  of  the  difficulties  experienced 
in  differentiating  these  deposits  and  the  Port  Hudson  proper 
have  been  discussed  under  the  Port  Hudson.  The  Quaternary 
coastal  formations  seem  to  be  in  all  respects  continuous,  and  it 
seems  quite  impossible  to  use  the  term  Port  Hudson  in  the 
coastal  region  without  including  in  it  some  of  the  most  recent 
formations.  The  blue  clay  stratum  with  stumps,  which  Hilgard 
reports  around  Petite  Anse,  and  which  he  refers  to  the  Port 
Hudson  seems  to  belong  to  the  subsidence  now  in  progress.  This 
conclusion  is  arrived  at  by  the  fact  that  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  stumps,  and  skirting  the  edge  of  the  present 
sea-marsh  is  a  cypress  swamp.  Thomassy  describes  on  the  sea- 
ward margin  of  the  swamp  a  number  of  dead  trees  which  clearly 

*  Mississippi  Rept. ,  i860,  p.   197. 


ii8  Geological   Survey   of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

owe  their  death  and  present  position  to  a  sinking  of  the  land.* 
As  a  subsidence  is  now  progressing  in  this  region  the  relation 
between  the  partly  live  and  partly  dead  cypress  trees  and  the 
prostrate  trunks  and  stumps  in  the  adjacent  marsh  seems  very 
clear. 

The  Alluvium. — In  the  valley,  where  a  period  of  erosion  has 
separated  the  old  alluvium  from  the  new,  there  is  some  hope  of 
distinguishing  between  the  two.  But  even  here  we  are  con- 
fronted by  the  fact  that  the  local  cypress  swamp  deposits  of 
to-day  and  the  cypress  swamp  deposits  of  the  Port  Hudson 
period  must  be  very  similar.  As  a  result  of  work  in  the  Yazoo 
bottoms.  Dr.  E.  A.  Smith  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Port 
Hudson  blue  clay  was  characterized  by  calcareous  concretions 
which  are  entirely  lacking  in  the  recent  deposits. 

The  thickness  of  the  material  which  may  be  unquestionably 
attributed  to  the  deposits  of  the  river  during  the  present  subsi- 
dence is  very  slight.  In  the  Mississippi  valley  a  deposit  of  over 
20  feet  of  unquestionably  recent  river  formation  will  rarely  be 
seen,  while  a  deposit  of  a  few  feet  is  most  common. t  The  same 
thing  holds  true  in  the  Red  river  valley. 

Quaternary    Phenomena    Other    Than  Deposition   and 

Erosion 

Local  Crustal  Movements 

The  Five  Islands. — The  great  deposits  of  sediment  along  this 
coast  in  Quaternary  time  have  doubtless  greatly  aided  other 
forces  in  distributing  the  equilibrium  of  the  crust  in  this  region. 
After  the  deposition  of  the  Lafayette  gravel  and  some  of  the 
basal  Quaternary  layers  and  before  the  deposition  of  the  yellow 
loam  a  series  of  very  peculiar  dome-shaped  folds  and,  to  all 
appearances,  a  large  fault  were  either  formed  or  assumed  their 
present  position  along  the  southern  coast  of  Louisiana.  These 
gave  rise  to  those  peculiar  elevations  along  the  coast  known  as 
the  Five  Islands.  On  two  of  these  mammillae-like  protuberances, 
whose  surfaces  have  been  greatly  ridged  by  erosion,  enough 
borings  have  been  made  to  reveal  the  fact  that  the    underlying 

*  Geologic  Pratique,  i860,  pp.  S2-83. 

f  Hilgard,— 48  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  V0L19,  1884,  pp.  480-481. 


II]  General  Geology:    Quaternary  119 

salt  mass  is  in  the  shape  of  an  elongate  dome.  On  Belle  Isle 
fossiliferous  surface  beds  show  the  same  dip  as  the  surface  of 
the  salt  and  where  the  apex  of  the  dome  was  entered  by  the 
mine  shaft  the  internal  structure  and  bedding  of  the  salt  seems 
to  show  that  the  mass  owes  its  shape  not  to  erosion  but  folding. 
On  Petite  Anse  the  salt  contains  certain  thin,  black,  slightly 
gypseous  bands  of  salt  which  dip  about  80°  S.  E.  From  this  it 
is  inferred  that  there  is  in  this  vicinity  either  a  fault  or  a  very 
steep  anticline. 

The  date  of  the  formation  of  the  similar  domes  of  Cretaceous 
material  in  northern  Louisiana  is  yet  an  open  question.  There 
seems  to  be  no  evidence  to  prove  or  disprove  that  they  were 
formed  at  the  same  time  as  the  Five  Islands.  It  is  hard  to 
believe  that  they  were  formed  so  recently.  The  disturbed  con- 
dition and  the  dip  of  the  Lower  Claiborne  beds  on  the  northern 
part  of  the  Winnfield  anticline  indicate  that  a  part  of  the  move- 
ment at  least  has  occurred  in   post-Claiborne  time. 

The  Mud  IvUMPS 

Description. — The  peculiar  upheavals  in  the  channel  and  around 
the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  early  forced  themselves  on  the  notice 
of  persons  interested  in  the  navigation  of  the  river.  Parts  of  the 
bottom  of  the  river  gradually  elevate  themselves  until  dome- 
shaped  masses  of  blue  clay  project  two  or  three  feet  above  the 
surface  of  the  water.  Openings  are  formed  in  the  summits  of 
these  cones,  from  which  water  and  mud  and  gas  issue.  The 
mud  is  deposited  about  the  orifice  in  successive  layers  and  builds 
up  a  miniature,  volcanic-like  cone.  This  process  continues  until 
the  elevation  of  the  cones  sometimes  reaches  ten  or  even  twelve 
feet.  The  eruption  then  entirely  ceases  or  an  opening  is  made 
at  a  lower  level.  The  extinct  cones  are  finally  destroj^ed  by  the 
waves. 

Theories  of  origi^i. — Naturally  many  theories  have  been 
proposed  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  sepeculiar  eruptions 
but  none  has  yet  been  advanced  which  has  received  the 
undivided  support  of  scientists.  The  theories  may  be  enumer- 
ated as  follows  : 


I20  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect 

1.  Gas  theory. 

2.  Superincumbent  pressure  theory. 

3.  Suppressed  spring  theory. 

4.  Hydraulic  tube  theory. 

5.  Tide  and  current  theor}-. 

One  of  the  first  theories  advanced  was  that  of  the  gas  origin.* 
This  theory  attributes  to  gas  the  main  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
mounds.  The  decomposition  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  matter 
buried  in  the  delta  gives  rise  to  gas.  In  its  attempts  to  escape 
this  gas  will  lift  the  upper  clay  to  the  surface  of  the  water  and 
then  unable  to  lift  it  higher  will  break  through,  carrying  with  it 
water  and  fine  mud. 

The  theory  advanced  by  Ivyellf  and  Hilgard;{:is  that  the  weight  of 
the  material  now  being  thorwn  down  at  the  delta  on  the  fine  semi- 
liquid  mud  deposited  when  the  river  was  farther  inland  will  tend 
to  squeeze  this  fine  mud  from  under  the  crest  of  the  bar.  This 
material  finds  vent  where  the  pressure  is  least,  giving  rise  to 
mud-lumps. 

The  other  theories  depend  on  water  alone  asa  formative  agent. 
In  1866  Beuregard  advanced  the  following  theory  of  the  origin 
of  the  mud-lumps  :  ' '  Now  if  a  tube  be  supposed  to  pass  from 
the  inside  of  the  bar,  where  the  current  is  more  or  less  strong, 
to  the  outside  of  it,  where  there  is  hardly  any  current,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  force  of  the  current  will  fill  this  tube  with  that 
floating  mud  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the  river,  and  cause  it  to 
issue  at  its  extremity  to  a  higher  or  lower  level,  or  not  at  all, 
according  to  the  strength  of  the  current  acting  at  that  time."§ 
As  this  can  be  proven  to  be  contrary  to  physical  laws  it  is  hardly 
to  be  considered. 

The  suppressed  spring  theory  holds  that  water  originating  at 
a  much  higher  level  finds  vent  here.     Forshey  supposed  that  for 


*  Sidell,  Report  to  Capt.  Talcott,  1839,  in  Humphreys  and  Abbott's  Report 
on  the  Hydraulics  and  Physics  of  the  Mississippi  River,  Appendix  A,  i860  ; 
Drake,  A  Systematic  Treatise  on  the  Principal  Diseases  of  the  Interior  Val- 
ley of  North  America,  Con.  1850,  pp.  93-94;  Long,  35th  Cong,  ist  Sess., 
Ex.  Doc.  No.  139,  p.  41  ;  Hopkins,  ist  An.  Rep.  Geol.  Surv.  La.,  p.  82,1870. 

f  Prin.  Geol.,  loth  ed.,  1868,  vol.  i,  p.  449- 

X  Amer.  Jour.  Sci.,  3d  series,  vol.  i,  1871,  pp.  238-246,  356-368,  425-435. 

ii35th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  No.  97,  vol.  12,  pp.  6-7,  1866. 


II]  General  Geology  :  Economic  Products  121 

some  reason  the  I,afayette  sands  come  to  an  end  near  the  present 
delta  and  that  the  water  which  has  entered  this  stratum  in  the 
uplands  north  of  New  Orleans  rise  to  the  surface  here.*  Thom- 
assy  pictures  a  reservoir  situated  some  where  north  of  the  delta 
but  does  not  specify  exactly  where.  The  mud-lumps  are  also 
intimately  connected  with  the  subterranean  channels  which  he 
pictures  as  honey-combing  the  delta. f 

The  theory  of  the  tide  and  current  origin  was  advanced  by 
Montaigu  in  1875.  He  supposed  that  in  the  eternal  conflict 
between  the  river  and  the  ocean  currents,  great  pressure  was  at 
times  exerted  on  the  beds  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 
which  occasionally  resulted  in  the  formation  of  mud-lumps. J 

Of  these  theories  the  first  seems  to  be  best  supported  by  the 
facts  at  hand  at  present. 

DIVISION  II— ECONOMIC  GEOLOGY 

MINERAL  RESOURCES 

Important  Products 
Sai,t 

Drake' s  salt  works. — This  locality  which  is  on  the  East  side  of 
Saline  bayou  in  Sec.  21,  13  N.,  5  W.,  seems  to  have  been  one  of 
the  first  sites  of  salt  making  in  Louisiana.  This  locality  more 
nearly  agrees  with  the  descriptions  of  the  position  of  the  salt 
pits  which  Daniel  Coxe§  described  in  1726,  from  which  the 
"  Natchitock"  Indians  made  salt  with  which  to  trade  with  the 
neighboring  nations,  than  any  other  locality  we  know  of. 

In  1812,  Maj.  Amos  Stoddard  gave  the  following  account  of 
this  locality  :  "  The  saline  in  the  vicinity  of  Natchitoches,  and 
on  the  navigable  waters  of  Red  river,  promises  to  be  productive. 
Three  wells  only  have  been  sunk,  they  furnish  water  for  thirty 
kettles,  whose  contents  are  six  hundred  and  sixty  gallons,  and 
as  the  water  is  nearly  saturated,  these  kettles  attended  by  seven 


*  Am.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.  Proc,  voL  26,  p.  154,  1878. 
f  Geologie  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,  i860,  Chap.  VI. 

t43d  Cong.  House  Ex.  Doc,  No.  i,  vol.  3,  p.  805,  1875  ;  Ann.  Rept.  Chief 
of  Eng.  for  1874. 
§  See  p.  II. 


122  Geological   Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

laborers  produce  about  two  hundred  and  forty  barrels  of  salt  per 
month,  at  an  expense  of  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars."^ 

To  this  statement  Darby  merely  adds  that  the  salt  works  are 
situated  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Postlethwait  on  Saline  bayou  about  25 
miles  by  road  from  Natchitoches. f 

The  local  demand  so  increased  that  in  the  early  forties  Mr. 
Drake  attempted  to  obtain  a  stronger  brine  by  a  deep  boring. 
A  well  a  little  over  a  thousand  feet  deep  was  bored  in  one  of  the 
licks  and  an  artesian  flow  of  salt  water  of  from  18  to  20  gallons 
per  minute  obtained.  The  water  was  weaker  in  salt  and  more 
gypseous  than  that  near  the  surface.;}; 

During  the  civil  war,  this  locality  was  the  scene  of  great 
activity.  Since  the  war,  the  primitive  methods  employed  at 
these  works  have  been  unable  to  produce  salt,  which  could 
compete  with  the  cheap  salt  made  in  large  quantities  in  other 
localities  by  improved  methods,  and  which  improved  facilities 
for  transportation  have  put  in  easy  reach  of  the  people. 

Rayburn  s  salt  works. — (See  Fig.  2,  p.  53).  Situated  in 
Sec.  31,  15  N.,  5  W.,  at  a  distance  from  the  early  settlements  in 
Red  river  valley,  it  was  not  until  1840  that  Mr.  Foust  commenced 
making  salt  at  this  locality  for  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
The  work  was  continued  on  a  very  modest  scale,  until  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Civil  war,  when  the  restrictions  imposed  on  the 
importation  of  salt  by  the  federal  blockade,  caused  it  to  have 
a  very  greatly  enhanced  value.  The  fame  of  Rayburn 's  lick 
spread,  and  in  1862  men  came  from  far  and  wide,  bringing  with 
them  gangs  of  negroes.  Hastily  built  shelters  were  put  up,  the 
valley  was  soon  dotted  with  shallow  wells  from  15  to  20  feet 
deep,  which  were  protected  from  the  fresh  waters  of  the 
occasional  freshets  by  low  levees.  The  natural  mounds  were 
utilized  for  furnace  sites ;  and  near  the  center  of  the  valley, 
where  these  mounds  were  not  found,  artificial  ones  were 
made.  Large  iron  sugar-kettles  from  four  to  six  feet  in  diameter 
were  mounted  on   rude  foundations   made  of  ferruginous  sand- 


*  Sketches,  Historical  and  Descriptive  of  L/Ouisiana  by  Maj.  Amos  Stod- 
dard, Phila.,  1812,  p.  400. 

f  A  Geog.  Des.  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  by  Wm.  Darby,  1816,  p.  29. 
X  Hopkins  2d  Ann.  Rept.  GeoL  Sur.  La.,  pp.  4-5,  1871. 


II]  General  Geology:    Economic  Products.  123 

stone  brought  from  the  surrounding  hills.  Three  or  four 
kettles  commonly  constituted  a  "  furnace."  Large  boilers  were 
also  obtained,  split  in  half,  wooden  bulkheads  inserted  in  the 
ends,  and  mounted  on  similar  foundations  of  sandstone. 

A  rent  oi  2%  bits  (37 /'3  cents)  per  bushel  was  charged 
for  the  privilege  of  making  the  salt  and  for  the  wood  consumed. 
The  receipts  by  the  owner  of  the  land,  at  this  rate,  are  said  to 
have  amounted  to  $375.00  per  day.  This  would  give  a  daily 
production  of  about  1,000  bushels.  Each  furnace  is  said  to 
have  averaged  30  bushels  daily.  As  there  are  66  old  furnaces 
still  well  defined,  at  least  three-fourths  of  which  must  have 
been  in  operation  when  the  greatest  receipts  were  realized,  this 
latter  estimate  is  probably  a  little  too  high. 

Pumps  were  placed  in  the  wells  and  platforms  built  around 
them  so  as  to  elevate  the  water  to  a  sufficient  height  to  conduct 
it  in  troughs  to  the  furnaces.  Every  seventh  day  the  kettles  were 
"chipped,"  that  is,  the  layer  of  limy  matter  which  had  formed 
a  coating  over  the  bottom  and  sides  possibly  an  inch  thick,  was 
chipped  or  broken  out. 

King's  salt  works. — The  history,  the  topographical  surround- 
ings and  the  extent  of  the  old  King's  salt  works  are  almost 
exactly  the  same  as  at  Rayburn's.  Mr.  King  commenced 
making  salt  for  himself  in  "  the  forties."  His  salt  well  seems 
to  have  been  about  150  feet  deep.  In  the  fall  of  the  year,  after 
the  crops  had  been  gathered,  the  negroes  were  taken  to  the  salt 
house  and  the  winter  supply  was  made.  Neighbors  brought 
their  negroes  and  availed  themselves  of  the  same  opportunity. 
This  salt  work  shared  with  the  other  localities  a  period 
of  intense  activity  during  the  war.  The  lick  was  covered 
with  shallow  wells  from  18  to  20  feet  deep  and  rude  furnaces  of 
the  same  tj^pe  as  seen  at  Rayburn's  were  built  on  the  edge  of 
the  bordering  hills. 

King's  lick  is  situated  on  the  side  of  Castor  bayou  very 
close  to  the  line  between  Sec.  34  and  35,  15  N.,  8  W.  The 
whole  lick  occupies  about  200  acres.  The  main  lick  where  the  old 
wells  were  sunk  is  a  very  flat,  wet, palmetto  meadow  and  occupies 
about  40  acres. 

Price's  saltworks. — Price's  old  salt  works  are  situated  on  Sec. 


124  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

25,  13  S.,  5  W.  They  were  not  visited  by  the  writers.  Hil- 
gard,  however,  reports  the  brine  stronger  here  than  at  either 
Rayburn's  or  King's. 

Bisthieau  salt  works. — We  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  any 
very  good  description  or  idea  of  the  works  at  this  locality.  They 
are  situated  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Bistiueau,  just  south  of  the 
V.  S.  &  P.  R.  R.,  and  are  very  often  underwater.  None  of  the 
geologists  who  have  written  about  the  State,  seem  to  have  vis- 
ited this  locality.     [Locality  just  visited  byVeatch,  Jan.,  1900.] 

Sabine  parish  salt  works. — In  18 12  Stoddard  made  the  follow- 
ing general  statement  covering  the  salines  of  northern  Louis- 
iana :  "  The  country  about  the  Washita  and  Red  rivers,  affords 
many  instances  of  salt,  where  a  sufficient  quantity  of  that  article 
may  be  obtained  to  suppy  a  crowded  population.  Several  salt 
springs  have  been  discovered  about  the  Sabine;  and  an  excel- 
lent one  is  known  to  exist  near  Catahoula  lake."*  Salt  has 
been  made  from  several  of  the  licks  on  the  Sabine.  Hilgard 
reports  salt  and  ' '  soda ' '  made  by  Governor  Allen  in  the  Sabine 
flat  about  two  miles  below  Myrick's  ferry,  in  the  northwestern 
corner  of  Sabine  parish. f 

Near  Coal  bluff  on  the  Sabine,  in  Sec.  33,  6  N.,  13  W.,  is  a 
small  salt  fiat  containing  several  wells  and  traces  of  the  old 
works.  The  operations  here  seem  to  have  been  on  a  much 
smaller  scale  than  the  licks  farther  east. 

As  stated  under  the  heading,  Lower  Claiborne,  there  are 
numerous  saline  springs  near  the  mouth  of  Negreet  bayou, 
which  at  one  time  were  utilized  for  the  manufacture  of  salt. 
The  method  of  obtaining  the  brine  and  manufacturing  the  salt  was 
the  primitive  one  of  sinking  hollow  cypress  logs  vertically  over 
the  saline  sources,  and  then  pumping  out  the  contents  of  the 
logs  and  running  it  into  kettles  along  the  banks  where  it  was 
artificiall}^  evaporated.  We  have  no  accurate  account  of  the 
daily  product  of  this  lick. 

Other  salt  springs. — The  salt  springs  on  Lake  Catahoula,  men- 
tioned by  Stoddard  (see  this  author  above),  have,   so  far    as   we 

*Sketclies  of  Louisiana,  1812,  pp.  399-400. 

tSuppl.  and  Final  Rept.  of  a  Geological  Recon.  of  the  State  of  Louisiana, 
New  Orleans,  1873,  p.  22. 


n]  General  Geology  :  Economic  Products  125 

know,  never  been  worked.  Hopkins,  who  examined  the  region 
in  1 87 1,  found  numerous  weak  brine  springs  issuing  from 
material  of  Port  Hudson  age.  He  was  inclined  to  consider  them 
of  very  doubtful  economic  importance.  He  reported  a  stratum 
of  salt  crystals  five-eighth  of  an  inch  thick  and  18  feet  from  the 
surface  of  the  ground  in  Capt.   I,.  D.  Corley's  well.* 

About  two  miles  southeast  of  Winnfield  is  a  small  lick,  known 
as  Cedar  lick.  Its  waters  have  never  been  used  to  any  consid- 
erable extent  for  making  salt. 

Five  Islands. — By  far  the  most  important  salt  deposits  of  the 
State  are  on  the  Five  Islands.  Salt  was  made  from  brine  springs 
on  Petite  Anse  at  intervals  from  1791  to  1862  when  a  large 
deposit  of  very  pure  rock  salt  was  discovered.  This  was  mined 
extensively  in  1862  and  the  earh'  part  of  '63.  Then  there  came 
a  period  of  inactivity  ;  but  since  1879  when  the  mines  were 
reopened  the  output  has  been  verj^  considerable.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1895  salt  was  discovered  on  Cote  Carline  but,  thus  far, 
no  use  has  been  made  of  it.  In  December,  1896,  salt  was  dis- 
covered on  Belle  Isle,  and  in  the  following  summer,  on  Grand 
Cote.  Companies  were  organized  to  mine  the  salt.  At  the  time 
of  the  junior  author's  visit  to  the  Islands  (Maj^  1899),  onl}^  the 
mine  of  the  Avery  Rock  Salt  Mining  Company  on  Petite  Anse 
was  producing  salt.  On  Belle  Isle,  the  Gulf  Company,  and  on 
Grand  Cote,  Mjdes  and  Company,  were  hastening  their  shafts 
toward  completion.  In  addition  to  mining  rock  salt  the  Gulf 
Compan}^  proposes  to  make  a  fine  grade  of  table  salt  b}' artificial 
evaporation.  For  a  more  complete  account  of  these  deposits  see 
special  report  on  the  Five  Islands. 

Conclusio7is. — The  great  purity  and  extent  of  the  rock  salt 
deposits  on  the  Five  Islands  has  been  discussed  in  a  special 
report  on  the  islands,  and  it  only  remains  to  mention  the  fact 
again  here.  The  northern  salt  springs  have  only  paid  under  the 
unusual  conditions  which  existed  during  the  war.  It  is  believed, 
however,  that  with  the  opening  of  railroad  communications 
these  springs  will  again  become  of  value.  It  is  regarded  as  a 
very  hopeful  sign  that  the  x\rkansas,  Louisiana  and  Southern 
Railroad,  now   building    from   Minden    and   Sibley    southward, 


*  Hopkins  3d  Annual,  p.  178,   1872. 


126  Geological   Survey  of   Louisiana  [.Sect. 

passes  within  half  a  mile  of  King's  salt  works.  All  the  other 
licks  are  at  present  well  removed  from  railroads.  Rayburn's 
nearest  railroad  is  at  Bienville,  eight  miles  away.  Drake's,  in 
addition  to  the  railroad  which  is  projected  near  it,  and  which  it 
is  hoped  will  be  built,  has  the  advantage  of  water  transportation 
for  a  part  of  the  j^ear. 

It  is  regretted  that  we  are  not  able  to  present  in  this  report 
views  of  the  salt  works  and  analyses  of  the  brines.  Those  will 
appear  in  a  following  report. 

Sulphur 

Sulphur  City,  Calcasieu  parish . — About  1868  the  Louisiana  Oil 
Company  was  formed  to  exploit  the  oil  and  gas  springs  in  the 
fresh  water  swamp  at  the  head  of  Bayou  Choupique,  about  15 
miles  west  of  Lake  Charles.  The  well  which  the  company  sunk 
was  unsuccessful  so  far  as  the  oil  and  gas  was  concerned,  but 
revealed  a  very  extensive  deposit  of  sulphur,  at  a  depth  of  443 
feet. 

In  1869  and  '70  numerous  borings  were  made  which  showed 
that  the  sulphur  bed  had  an  average  thickness  of  100  feet,  and 
occupied  a  position  about  425  feet  below  the  surface.  The  beds 
of  water  bearing  sands,  which  overlaid  the  deposit,  rendered  the 
sinking  of  a  shaft  quite  a  difficult  undertaking.  A  company  was 
organized  under  Gen.  Jules  Brady.  This  company  succeeded  in 
forcing  a  large  sectioned  cast-iron  shaft  down  to  a  depth  of  no 
feet,  when  it  was  abandoned  because  of  the  breaking  of  the  lin- 
ing.* After  this  attempt  little  was  done  at  the  sulphur  deposits 
till  1895,  when  the  invention  of  what  is  known  as  the  Frasch 
process  by  Mr.  Herman  Frasch  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  caused  active 
work  to  be  resumed  at  this  locality.  The  process  is  briefly 
described  by  Mr.  E-  W.  Parker,  in  the  Mineral  Resources  of  the 
United  States  for  1895,  as  follows:  "  The  method  consists  of 
forcing  superheated  water  through  a  lo-inch  pipe  and  a  6-inch  , 
pipe  within  the  other.  The  heated  water  melts  the  sulphur, 
which,  being  the  heavier  sinks  to  the  bottom,  and  is  pumped  out 
through  a  3-inch    pipe    inside    the   6-inch  one.     The  liquefied 


♦Mineral  Resources  of  the  U.  S.  for  1883-84,  p.  864,  1885. 


11]  General  Geology  :    Economic  Products  127 

sulphur  is  drawn  off  into  tanks  about  65  feet  long  by  15  feet  wide 
and  12  inches  deep.  After  twenty-four  hours  of  exposure  to  the 
atmosphere  (the  tanks  being  on  the  ground  and  uncovered)  the 
sulphur  solidifies  and  is  broken  out  in  lumps  ready  for  shipment. 
The  sulphur  obtained  is  said  to  be  99.93  per  cent.  pure.  The 
pumping  was  done  as  in  oil  wells,  with  sucker  rods  and  working 
valve  operating  an  aluminum  working-barrel,  alumnium  not 
being  affected  by  melted  sulphur.  All  the  trouble  experienced 
in  the  execution  of  this  novel  smelting  process  has  been  caused 
by  the  working  valve  getting  out  of  order,  alumnium  valves  and 
zinc  valves  not  being  of  sufficient  strength  to  withstand  the 
shock  which  the  heavy  column  of  the  sulphur  would  cause  at 
change  of  stroke."  The  principle  of  the  "  air-lift  "  pump  was 
applied  in  i8g6  and  by  this  system  the  Union  Sulphur  Company 
was  enabled  to  pump  265  tons  of  sulphur  per  day. 

Plate  9  shows  the  melted  sulphur  pouring  into  the  tank,  in 
the  central  part  of  the  picture  ;  partly  cr5'stallized  sulphur  in  the 
tank  on  the  right,  and  on  the  left  men  engaged  in  picking  out 
and  wheeling  away  the  finished  product. 

This  process,  while  entirely  successful  so  far  as  recovering  the 
sulphur  was  concerned,  did  not  prove  to  be  entirely  so 
from  a  financial  point  of  view.  As  the  size  of  the  cavity  about 
the  foot  of  the  pipe  increased,  the  amount  of  heated  water 
required  to  melt  the  sulphur  became  greater  and  greater  and,  in 
time,  the  size  of  the  cavity  became  so  large  that  the  sulphur 
could  not  be  economically  removed. 

The  production  of  the  mine  in  1895  was  about  800  tons,  in  1896 
about  4,200  tons  and  in  1897  a  little  over  1,000  tons.  The  mines 
are  at  present  closed  and  there  seems  to  be  no  prospect  of  their 
reopening  in  the  near  future. 

Clays 

General  statement. — The  clay  wealth  of  Louisiana  has  been  but 
imperfectly  investigated  and  the  attention  of  the  survey  will 
therefore  be  directed  very  particularly,  during  the  ensuing  year, 
to  this  one  of  our  economic  products. 

Good  brick  claj^s  are  common  in  the  alluvium  and  yellow  loam 
and  are  also  found  in  several  places  in  the  hill-lands.     The  clays 


128  Geological   Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

of  the  Eocene  in  this  region  commonly  lack  pasticity,  though 
some  beds  occur  which  will  make  a  fair  quality  of  earthenware. 

At  Robeliue  small  earthenware  objects  have  been  made  from 
Lignitic  clays  at  Carter's  pottery  works.  (See  p.  70,  and  Dr. 
Ries'  report  under  Special  Reports,  Section  3.) 

The  clays  of  the  Grand  Gulf  hills  seem  to  be  more  promising 
than  any  others  in  the  State. 

Catahoula  parish. — In  the  north  central  part  of  this  parish  are 
numerous  outcrops  of  a  very  pure  white  clay  locally  called 
"chalk."  Near  Spring  Ridge  church  (about  Sec.  17,  10  N.,  5 
E.)  the  following  section  was  seen : 

Section  at  Sprifig  Ridge  Church 

1.  Sand  to  top  of  hill 20  feet. 

2 .  Sandtone 2    " 

3.  "  Chalk  " — a  very  fine  white  clay.  .  .  . , 2-4    " 

4.  Dark  gray  claj'  with  a  few  plant  impressions  ....  3    " 

5 .  Sandstone  to  bed  of  branch 2    " 

Layer  3  outcrops  in  Sec.  7,  8,  17  and  21,  10  N.,  5  E.  In  the 
Chalk  Hills  (about  Sec.  7,  10  N.,  5  E.)  it  occupies  the  tops  of 
hills,  and  the  cost  of  obtaining  it  would  consequently  be  small. 
The  section  here  shown  is  : 

1 .  Sand 0-6      feet. 

2.  Soft,  friable,  fine  gray  sandstone   i^    " 

3.  "  Chalk  " — a  fine  white  claj^ 8        " 

4.  Fine  sandstone i       foot. 

5.  Dark  gray  or  drab  indurate  cla}^  with  vegetable 

impressions 10-14      feet. 

6.  Hillside,  no  good  exposures,  covered  with  large 

sandstone  bowlders,  so  evidently  in  place.  .  50        " 

A  number  of  samples  of  this  material  were  collected  and  left 
with  a  gentleman  at  Rosefield  to  be  forwarded.  The  material 
has  not  3'et  been  received,  and  we  are,  therefore,  unable  to  pre- 
sent this  year  results  of  tests  to  determine  their  exact  economic 
value.  Samples  of  it  are,  however,  reported  to  have  been  made 
into  good  stoneware  at  New  Orleans. 

Johnson  reports  a  similar  clay  in  the  Grand  Gulf  rocks,  near 
Lena,  and  it  is  also  reported  10  miles  southeast  of  Fort  Jessup. 


ly     General  Geology  :  Economic  Products    129 

Ver-non  parish. — Attention  was  called  to  the  large  outcrops  of 
Grand  Gulf  clays  in  Sec.  17,  3  N.,  11  W.,  by  Mr.  Ira  E.  Moore. 
Samples  Nos.  151  and  153  of  Dr.  Ries'  report  are  from  this  local- 
ity. The  bed  from  which  No.  151  was  taken  is  about  10  feet 
thick  and  as  it  is  near  the  top  of  the  hill  the  cost  of  obtaining  it 
will  not  be  great. 

For  tests  of  clay  samples  see  report,  of  Dr.  Ries. 

Sandstone 

Varieties. — The  sandstone  deposits  of  the  State  are  of  two 
classes,  viz.:  the  ferruginous  sandstones  of  the  Eocene  and 
Lafayette  hills  and  the  silicious  sandstones  of  the  Grand  Gulf. 

The  first  are  of  wide  distribution  and  of  only  slight  local 
importance.  They  occur  over  nearly  all  the  hills  of  northern 
Louisiana,  and  sparingly  in  the  hills  of  the  Florida  parishes. 
They  are  sometimes  used  for  foundations  and  for  chimneys. 
The  foundations  of  the  rude  furnaces  at  Rayburn's  salt  works 
were  built  of  this  stone. 

The  silicious  sandstones  of  the  Grand  Gulf  is  of  greater 
importance.  It  is  used  for  rip-rap  and  jetty  work  and  for  rail- 
road ballast.  It  has  been  suggested  that  some  of  the  harder 
quartzitic  varieties  might  make  good  building  stone  but  the 
irregular  development  of  these  beds  makes  it  questionable 
whether  large  quantities  of  stones  suitable  for  this  purpose  could 
be  economically  obtained. 

Quarries  have  been  opened  on  Bayou  Toro,  near  the  K.  C.  P. 
&  G.  R.  R.  in  southern  Sabine  parish  ;  near  Boyce  and  Lena  on 
the  T.  &  P.  R.  R. ;  and  at  Harrisonburg. 

Bayou  Toro. — These  quarries,  known  as  Low's  quarries,  were 
opened  to  supply  stone  for  the  jetty  and  canal  work  about  Sabine 
Pass  and  Port  Arthur,  Tex. ,  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Kansas 
City,  Pittsburg  and  Gulf  railroad.  The  first  quarry  was  located 
in  the  S.  W.  one-fourth  of  the  N.  W.  one-fourth  of  Sec.  28,  5 
N.,  10  W.  Stone  was  obtained  here  until  the  cost  of  removing 
the  top  material  became  so  great  that  a  new  site  was  chosen  in 
Sec.  14.  The  work  was  continued  there  till  the  same  diflBculty 
was  again  experienced  and  in  February  of  the  present  year,  a 
third  site  was  chosen  three  miles  further  up  the  bayou.  The 
I 


130  GEOLOCricAL  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

miue  track,  which  is  now  nine  miles  long,  connects  with  the  K. 
C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R.  at  Christie  station.  In  February  the  company 
had  a  force  of  60  men  at  the  new  quarry  and  was  using  5  der- 
ricks and  4  steam  drills. 

Boyce. — Between  Boyce  and  Lena  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Rail- 
road company  has  for  several  years  past  been  quarrying  the 
Grand  Gulf  sandstones  for  railroad  ballast. 

Harrisonbtirg . — Small  quarries  have  been  opened  here  to  obtain 
stone  for  Government  crib  and  dike  work  along  the  Ouachita 
river. 

Petite   Anse. — In    Iron    Mine    Run   on    Petite    Anse  there  is 

exposed  a  soft  pink  sandstone  which  may  be  of  value  for  railroad 

ballast.     The  surface  indications,  however,  seem  to  show  that  it 

is  rather  soft. 

Limestone 

Limestone  occurs  in  Louisiana  in  beds  of  limited  extent,  and 
also  in  the  form  of  concretions. 

Cretaceous  limestones. — The  beds  of  limestone  seem  to  be 
almost  entirely  confined  to  the  Cretaceous.  Of  the  three 
outcrops  which  occur  in  the  State,  the  Winnfield  limestone 
is  of  very  doubtful  value  as  a  building  stone,  but  the  Coochie 
Brake  and  Bayou  Chicot  deposit  may  be  utilized  for  that  purpose. 

The  Winnfield  limestone  is  a  highly  crystalline  blue  and  white 
banded  stone.  It  is  full  of  cracks  and  pockets  and  other  flaws, 
which  will  render  it  useless  as  an  ornamental  or  building  stone. 
It  can  doubtless  be  used  to  advantage  for  making  lime.  The 
quantity  of  the  stone  in  sight  is  large  and  it  can  be  very  econom- 
ically quarried.  Several  kilns  of  lime  have  already  been  burned 
here  for  local  use. 

The  purity  of  the  stone  is  shown  by  the  following  analysis  by 

W.  F.  Hillebrand  : 

Analysis  of  Wituifield  Limestone'^ 

Insoluble 65 

H,0 13 

CaO 5501 

MgO 60 

MnO 10 

CO3 43-43 

SO3 27 

*  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.  No.  60,  p.  160,  1890, 


n]     General  Geology  :  Economic  Products    131 

The  Coochie  Brake  stone  is  a  light  yellow  or  bluish  yellow  coarse 
grained  sandy  limestome.  It  is  of  excellent  quality  for  build- 
ing purposes,  but  its  value  is  somewhat  impaired  by  the  presence 
of  small  nodules  of  iron  pyrites.  These  will  restrict  its  use  to 
situations  where  a  good  external  appearance  is  not  one  of  the 
qualities  required  of  the  stone.  The  pyrite,  if  the  quantity 
prove  to  be  large,  may  destroy  its  value  altogether.  The  quan- 
tity of  stone  at  this  locality  is  large,  and  it  is  easily  obtained. 

The  Bayou  Chicot  stone  is  the  best  for  building  that  we  have 
seen  in  the  State.  It  is  a  fine  grained,  dark  gray  limestone.  Only 
two  very  small  outcrops  of  it  were  seen,  and  from  these  no  very 
satisfactory  ideas  of  the  extent  of  the  deposit  could  be  gained. 
In  the  two  outcrops  the  dip  is  great,  and  the  cost  of  uncovering 
the  stone  would  probably  be  large.  Borings  are  needed  to  show 
the  extent  of  this  deposit.  In  the  early  history  of  the  country 
lime  was  made  at  this  place.  The  ruins  of  the  old  lime  kilns 
are  to  be  seen  near  the  larger  outcrop. 

Tertiary  limestone  cono-etions. — The  tertiary  limestone  concre- 
tions are  often  of  large  size  and  have  been  used  locally  for  the 
foundations  of  houses.  At  Shreveport  large  calcareous  concre- 
tions are  crushed  and  used  on  the  streets  and  in  concrete  work. 
Hopkins  *  reports  a  place  five  miles  from  Natchitoches,  called 
the  Kilns  where  large  concretions  have  been  burned  for  lime. 

At  Rocky  Spring  Church  lime  was  burned  from  a  little 
outcrop  of  Midway  limestone  for  the  masonry  of  Fort  Jessup. 

Gravel 

For  the  location  and  distribution  of  the  main  gravel  beds  of 
the  State,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  discussion  of  the  I,afay- 
ette.  Such  deposits  furnish  material  for  the  improvement  of 
the  roads  and  streets,  and  for  railroad  ballast.  In  the  Florida 
parishes  these  gravels  have  been  used  in  several  places.  McGee 
reports  pits  near  Laurel  Hill  where  the  gravel  is  worked  for  road 
material. 

Near  Colfax  the  citizens  have  commenced  improving  the  bad 
bottom  roads  with  gravel  from  the  hillsides  east  of  the  outlet  of 
Lake  latt. 

*  1st  An.  Rept.,  1870,  p.  95.  See  also  the  present  Rept.  under  special 
Report  No,  I,  S.  W.  cor.  of  township,  p.  144. 


132  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

At  Monroe  several  of  the  streets  of  the  city  have  been  graveled 
from  pits  on  the  Traveler's  Rest  stock  farm,  three  miles  north 
of  town  on  the  west  bank  of  Ouachita  river.  This  gravel  has 
also  been  used  in  the  concrete  work  of  the  new  bridge  over  the 
Ouachita.  It  is  proposed  to  build  a  switch  to  this  deposit  from  the 
V.  S.  &  P.  R.  R. 

The  V.  S.  &  P.  railroad  passes  through  a  portion  of  this 
gravel  deposit  about  three  miles  west  of  Monroe,  and  has 
removed  some  of  it  for  ballast  along  the  line.  The  Iron  Moun- 
tain railroad  has  obtained  a  small  quantity  of  gravel  from  the 
deposits  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Grand  Gulf,  in  Grant 
parish.  In  southern  Rapides,  according  to  Clendenin,  the  Kan- 
sas City,  Watkins  and  Gulf  railroad  has  obtained  large  quanti- 
ties of  gravel  for  road  ballast. 

On  Belle  Isle  and  Petite  Anse  the  gravel  beds  have  been  utilized 
in  making  concrete.  In  southern  Louisiana  good  sands  are 
rarely  found.  Sands  occur  on  Petite  Anse  and  Grande  Cote,  in 
situations  where  they  can  be  easily  dug,  and  the  sand-pits  at  these 
two  places,  especially  the  former  because  of  its  railraad  connec- 
tions, supply  a  large  area  of  country. 

Unimportant  Mineral  Products 
Iron  Ore 

The  latter  part  of  1885  and  the  early  part  of  i886  were  spent 
by  Mr.  L.  C.  Johnson,  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  in  north- 
ern Louisiana,  in  investigating  the  iron  ores  of  that  region. 
He  found  siderite  and  brown  hemitite  or  limonite  ores  in  the 
form  of  nodules  or  concretions  and  thin  plates,  occuring  in  nearly 
all  of  the  beds  of  the  old  Tertiary,  and  occasionally  in  the  Lafay- 
ette sands.  These  ores  are  scattered  through  beds  of  sands  and 
clays,  and  it  is  believed  that  they  can  hardly  be  obtained  in 
sufficient  quantities  to  be  of  economic  value.  Selected  speci- 
mens give  very  good  results  when  submitted  to  analysis,  as  the 
following  tables  will  show,  but  the  quantity  of  ores  of  this  qual- 
ity seems  to  be  quite  limited. 


II]  General  Geology  :   Economic  Products 

ANAI.YSES  OF  Iron  Ores.* — By  R.  B.  Riggs. 


133 


Ignition  . . 
Siliciousmatt'r: 
Metallic  iron .  . 

Sulphur , 

Manganese. . . 
Phosphorus... 


I 

2 

3 

IO-53 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

II. 06 

10.26 

10.62 

9-05 

950 

11.25 

11.04 

18.22 

27.85 

6.37 

21.77 

10.97 

23.20 

28.12 

18.72 

21.70 

39.95 

39-65 

50-32 

43-17 

52.18 

44-54 

39-26 

45-72 

43.76 

22.22 

•03 

.10 

.26 

.03 

.09 

.03 

•17 

.03 

.17 

.126 

.079 

.01 

.026 

.006 

.049 

.007 

.005 

•157 

.226 

Trace 

.382 

.064 

.859 

.447 

.247 

.835 

.072 

*  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.  No.  42,  1887,  pp.  144-145. 


2. 

parish 

3- 
parish 

4- 
parish 

5- 
6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 
parish 


Bossier  parish,  one-half  mile  west  of  Bellevue. 

Dr.    Whitlaw's,    four  miles  west   of    Greenwood,    Caddo 

Simmon's  bed,   eight    miles  south    of  Homer,    Claiborne 

Moreland's,    nine    miles    southeast    of  Homer,   Claiborne 

Vienna  wire  road,  lyincoln  parish. 

lyincoln  Reed's  place,  nine  miles  northwest  of  Vienna. 
Webster  parish,  four  miles  northwest  of  Shongaloo. 
Union  parish,  one  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Downsville. 
Moreland's,    ten   miles  southwest  of    Arcadia,   Bienville 


Other  Analyses  of  Iron  Ores. 


Siliciousmatt'r 
Metallic  iron . 

Sulphur 

Phosphorus . . 


I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

S 

9 

21.40 

12.15 

11.420 

38.35 

49-97 

43.170 

36.517 

47.565 

52.005 

51.94 

33.16 

35.56 

•34 

.08 

.056 

T 

T 

.18 

.62 

1.650 

0.689 

0.919 

0.727 

134  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 


Miller's  bluff,  Bossier  parish.* 


2.  Gilmer  field,  Phelp's  lake,  Bossier  parish.* 

3.  H.  L.  Aubery,  Claiborne  parish.* 

4.  Location  not  given. f 

5.  Location  not  given. f 

6.  Location  not  given. f 
Farmerville,  Union  parish. | 

Four  miles  northeast  of  Calhoun,  Sec.  30,   18  N.,  2E.t 
Two  miles  west  of  Calhoun,  Sec.  29,  18  N.,  i  E.+ 

Col.  Samuel  H.  Lockett,§  of  the  State  University,  in  his  report 
of  the  topographical  survey  for  1870,  makes  the  following  state- 
ment, which  seems  to  full)'  cover  the  case:  "Many  persons 
think  that  this  parish  (Bossier)  will  one  day  acquire  great  profit 
from  the  iron  rocks  found  in  such  abundance  on  the  hills  of  the 
red  lands.  This  is  hardly  possible  until  the  so  much  richer  and 
more  easily  wrought  and  more  accessible  ores  of  iron  found  in 
every  part  of  the  United  States  are  exhausted.  It  is  true  that 
Bossier  and  Claiborne  and  Jackson  parishes  might  supply  them- 
selves with  iron  from  their  own  hillsides,  but,  until  they  become 
completely  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  they  will  do  well 
to  seek  their  supply  elsewhere.  These  iron  rocks,  though  look- 
ing extremely  rich  in  iron,  are  yet  so  largely  composed  of  sand 
as  to  be  appropriately  named  ferruginous  sand  rocks. ' ' 

lylGNITE 

The  lignite  beds  of  Louisiana  have  been  known  and  looked 
upon  as  one  of  the  resources  of  the  country  from  its  first  settle- 
ment. Stoddard,  in  1812,  in  his  Sketches  of  Louisiana,  p.  392, 
says  of  the  Louisiana  lignite  :  ' '  Stone  or  pit-coal  is  an  article  of 
some  importance.  It  frequently  makes  its  appearance  on  the 
Washita,   the  Sabine,   and   the  Red  rivers,  particularly  on  the 


*  Johnson,  Iron  Region  of  Louisiana  and  Texas,  50th  Cong,  ist  Ses. 
House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  26,  p.  195. 

fMin.  Resources  of  the  U.  S.  for  1887,  p.  51.  Analyses  by  Alfred  F 
Brainerd. 

JLerch,  Bull.  La.  Expt.  Sta. :  Geology  and  Agriculture,  part  I.,  p.  48 
Analyses  by  Maurice  F.  Bird. 

§  2d  Ann.  Rept.  of  the  Topog.  Surv.  of  Louisiana  for  1870,  p.  49,  1871. 


II]  General  Geology  :   Economic  Products  135 

borders  of  a  lake  in   the  neighborhood  of  Natchitoches.     This 
article  is  of  use  to  smiths  even  at  this  time." 

With  the  settlement  of  the  country,  beds  of  lignite  were  found 
in  many  places  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  and  fruitless 
attempts  have  from  time  to  time  been  made  to  open  lignite  mines. 

The  best  deposits  either  underlie  the  Lower  Claiborne  or  occur 
in  the  territory  shown  on  the  map  as  lyignitic.  A  part  of  the 
lyower  Claiborne  deposits  contain  beds  of  lignite,  but  they  are  com- 
monly small.  Beds  of  lignite  also  occur  between  the  Jackson  and 
the  Vicksburg  stages. 

Dolet  hills. — The  most  promising  deposits  in  the  State  are  in 
the  Dolet  hills,  in  DeSoto  parish.  The  reports  of  these  deposits, 
which  have  reached  us,  seem  to  indicate  that  a  very  detailed 
and  careful  survey  of  this  region  should  be  made ;  and  a 
report  on  it  may,  therefore,  be  expected  in  a  future  annual  of  this 
survey.  None  of  the  geologists  who  have  worked  on  this  region 
seem  to  have  visited  the  main  Dolet  hill  area.  Hilgard  skirted 
the  edge  of  it  and  reported  at  Granning's  ferry  on  Bayou  Pierre, 
a  bed  of  good  lignite  3  or  4  feet  thick.  Analyses  of  the  Dolet 
hills  lignite,  which  have  been  made  for  interested  parties  at 
Mansfield,  have  shown  that  it  is  of  very  excellent  quality. 

Stone  coal  bluff,  Sabine  river, — The  east  bank  of  the  Sabine 
river  near  the  line  between  T.  5  and  6  N.,  shows  at  low  water  a 
platform  of  lignite  about  five  feet  thick  and  possibly  a  hundred 
yards  long.  The  name  bluff  is  a  misnomer,  for  the  bank  here  is 
little  higher  than  the  bottom-lands.  Overlying  the  lignite  is 
about  twenty  feet  of  gray  sand  and  clay,  evidently  alluvial 
deposits.  A  barge  load  of  lignite  was  mined  here  in  the  seven- 
ties, to  be  marketed  on  the  lower  river,  but  the  barge  is  reported 
to  have  parted  in  the  middle  and  sunk.  Recently,  gentlemen 
from  Lake  Charles  have  had  a  prospect  hole  drilled  on  the  top  of 
the  bank  about  200  yards  from  the  river.  The  yielding  nature 
of  the  overlying  material  will  make  the  cost  of  mining  the  lignite 
very  great  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  product. 

About  a  mile  from  the  river  in  the  S.  W.  one-fourth  of  Sec.  3, 
5  N.,  13  W.,  the  same  bed  is  seen  with  a  covering  of  Tertiary 
clays,  which  will  make  a  much  better  roof  than  the  material  near 


136  Geological  Survey  of  L,ouisiana  [Sect. 

the  river.  But  even  here  the  cost  of  timbering  will  be  very 
great.      (For  the  section  at  this  point  see  page  66.) 

Analyses  of  samples  of  lignite  collected  at  this  point  have  not 
yet  been  received,  but  it  is  doubted  if  this  bed  can  ever  be  of 
more  than  local  importance  and  that  only  after  the  great  amount 
of  good  pine  wood  which  covers  the  country  is  exhausted. 

Many. — A  small  bed  of  lignite  is  exposed  in  Tar  river,  near 
the  Sabinetown  road,  at  the  ridge  known  as  the  Devil's  Back- 
bone. (See  map  PI.  4.)  Specimens  of  this  lignite  have  been 
tried  by  the  Many  blacksmiths  in  their  forges  with  only  par- 
tially satisfactory  results.  The  lignite  burns  readily  but,  it  is 
claimed,  makes  little  heat. 

Mansfield. — Lerch  reports  a  deposit  of  lignite  three  and  one- 
half  feet  thick  nine  miles  southwest  of  Mansfield  which  has  been 
used  by  local  blacksmiths.  For  an  analysis  of  this  lignite  see 
Lerch's  second  report,  p.  128. 

Shreveport. — A  bed  of  lignite  is  exposed  in  many  of  the  bluffs 
near  Shreveport.  At  Arsenal  hill  this  bed  is  about  two  feet 
thick.  It  is  of  fairly  good  quality  and  is  reported  to  have  been 
used  as  fuel  in  the  Confederate  Arsenal  at  this  point. 

S.  Dana  Hayes,  State  Assayist  of  Massachusetts,  published  an 
analysis  of  a  sample  of  lignite  "  from  the  banks  of  the  Red  river 
about  two  miles  below  Shreveport,  in  Louisiana"  in  the  Chem- 
ical News,  vol.  30,  1874  page  153.     The  analysis  was  as  follows  : 

Analysis  of  Lignite  from  Shreveport  (by  S.  Dana  Hayes) 

Water 15:25 

Volatile  matter  (bituminous) 4i-3o 

Fixed  carbon  (coke)    37-55 

Sulphur Trace 

Ash     5.89 

99-99 

Underlying  Bellevue  is  a  thin  bed  of  lignite. 

Sec.  II,  18  N.,  S  IV. — This  locality  is  interesting  because  the 
lignite  is  here  of  sufficiently  good  qualit}-  to  have  been  used  as 
fuel  in  a  steam  shovel  working  on  the  V.  S.  &  P.  R.  R.  when 
the  railroad  was  first  built  through  this  section. 

Outcrops  of  lignite  are  reported  by  Lerch  at  Cold  Springs,  six 

Lerch  First  Report,  p.  17. 


11]  General  Geology  :   Economic  Products  137 

miles  west  of  Homer  and  at  several  places  between  Gibbsland 
and  Bienville. 

In  Catahoula  parish,  south  of  Rosefield,  a  small  bed  of  poor 
lignite  is  found  at  the  base  of  the  Vicksburg  beds.  This  locality 
is  called  the  "coal  mine."  In  Sec.  31,  ir  N.  5  E.,  several  pits 
have  been  dug  in  this  bed. 

IvEAD  AND  Zinc  Ores 

For  a  discussion  of  the  lead  and  zinc  ores  of  the  State,  see 
Geology,  Belle  Isle,  in  special  report  on  Five  Islands. 

Marl 

The  marls  which  have  thus  far  been  examined  have  been  some- 
what disappointing.  The  amount  of  phosphoric  acid  is  very 
small  and  the  general  character  of  marls  is  such  as  to  greatly 
restrict  their  use. 

Several  nodules  of  iron  have  been  picked  up  in  the  vicinity  of 
Homer  and  Eisbon,  which  contain  nuceli  of  rich  phosphate  of 
lime.  The  extent  of  this  deposit  is  still  an  open  question,  but 
it  will  be  unwise  to  count  too  much  on  their  value.  That  the 
calcareous  material  from  a  great  many  of  the  fossiliferous  out- 
crops mentioned  in  this  report  will  be  of  value  in  restoring 
impoverished  sandy  soils,  cannot  be  questioned. 

Gypsum 

Selenite  crystals  occur  in  many  parts  of  northern  Louisiana, 
and  are  especiall}^  abundant  in  the  Jackson  along  the  Ouachita 
river.  In  no  place  have  they  thus  far  proved  of  any  agricultural 
value. 

At  Rayburn's  salt  works  some  gypsum  is  associated  with  the 
limestone,  but  according  to  analysis  made  by  the  stations  some 
years  ago  the  percentage  of  limestone  accompanying  it  is  very 
large. 

The  only  deposit  of  any  magnitude  and  purity  yet  found  in 
the  State  accompanies  the  sulphur  deposits  near  Lake  Charles. 
The  exploitation  of  this  deposit  must  await  the  successful  sink- 
ing of  a  shaft  at  this  point. 

Petroleum  and  Gas 

Lake  Charles. — In  1839  Dr.  William  M.  Carpenter  states  that 
"  in  the  low  lands    bordering  on  the  Calcasieu    river   there  are 


138  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

numerous  springs  of  petroleum."*  These  were  the  petroleum 
springs  which  finally  led  to  the  discovery  of  sulphur  near  Lake 
Charles.  One  of  the  wells  at  the  Sulphur  mine  yields  a  small 
quantity  of  petroleum  which,  during  the  sulphur  operations, 
was  collected  and  barreled.  A  slight  amount  of  gas  was  also 
found  at  this  locality. 

Belle  Isle. — A  spring  formerly  existed  at  the  place  now  occu- 
pied by  the  saw-mill  on  Belle  Isle,  which  furnished  an  oil  that 
was  highly  esteemed  in  the  neighborhood  for  its  medicinal  quali- 
ties. Capt.  Lucas  reported  a  slight  amount  of  oil  in  several  of 
the  wells  bored  by  him  on  this  island.  Inflammable  gas  was 
found  in  holes  Nos.  4  and  10.  In  the  latter,  at  a  depth  of  120 
feet  the  amount  of  gas  was  sufficient  to  throw  sand  to  the  top  of 
the  derrick.  It  is  now  bubbling  from  the  hole  and  can  be  easily 
collected  and  ignited. 

Breaux  Bridge. — About  2)4,  miles  from  Breaux  Bridge,  in  St. 
Martin's  parish,  gas  is  reported  escaping  from  the  "  Natural 
Gas  Spring"  in  considerable  quantities.  The  gas  is  readily 
ignited  and  once  lit  continues  to  burn  indefinitely.  Mr.  C.  S. 
Babine,  C.  E.,  of  Breaux  Bridge  has  furnished  us  with  the 
photograph  from  which  the  accompanying  plate  was  made.  The 
two  pipes,  shown  in  the  plate,  were  simply  pushed  a  few  feet  in 
the  ground  and  the  gas  escaping  from  their  top  ignited.  This 
is  the  largest  flow  of  gas  yet  reported  in  the  State.  Capt.  A.  F. 
Lucas  is  at  present  engaged  in  boring  near  this  locality,  and  we 
are  watching  for  the  results  of  his  borings  with  interest. 

Shreveport. — Salt  water  and  gas  were  struck  in  the  ice  factory 
well  at  Shreveport  at  a  depth  of  961  ft.  (See  discussion  of  Ice 
Factory  well  in  Shreveport  Area  article.)  The  gas  is  collected 
and  used  for  lighting  the  office  at  the  ice-factor}'. 

Gas  is  reported  from  a  well  about  40  feet  deep  near  Annanias 
club  house,  north  of  Ferry  lake, in  Sec.  9,20  N.,  16,  W.  This  was 
from  a  local  bed  of  vegetable  matter, and  the  flowof  gas  soon  ceased. 

Negreet  bayou. — A  slight  flow  of  gas  accompanies  the  salt 
springs  near  the  mouth  of  Bayou  Negreet,  in  Sabine  parish. 
An  oil  spring  is  reported  in  Sec.  16,  9N.  12  W.  So  far  as  we 
know  neither  has  been  used. 


*Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  vol.  35,  p.  345,  1839. 


Section  III 
SPECIAL  REPORTS 

Including  :  * 

No.  I.     The  Natchitoches  Area,  by  G.  D.  Harris. 

No.  2.     The  Shreveport  Area,  by  A.  C.  Veatch. 

No.  3.     The  Five  Islands,  by  A.  C.  Veatch. 

No.  4.     A  Report  on  Louisiana  Clay  Samples,  by  H.  Ries. 

No.  5.     A  Report  on  a  Collection  of  Fossil  Plants  from 
Northwestern  Louisiana,  by  Arthur  Hollick. 

No.  6.     The    Cretaceous  and  Lower  Eocene  Faunas  of 
Louisiana,  by  G.  D.  Harris. 

No.  7.     Establishment  of  Meridian  Lines,  by  G.  D.  Harris. 

No.  8      A  Few  Notes  on  Road  Making,  by  G.  D.  Harris. 

No.  9.     Some    Wood  -  Destroying    Fungi,    by     George     F. 
Atkinson. 


*  A  detailed  table  of  contents  is  prefixed  to  each  special  report. 


special  Report  No.  i . 

NATCHITOCHES   AREA 


G.  D.   HARRIS 


CONTENTS 

Introduction 141 

Topography 

Hill  Lands 

West  of  Old  river 141     North  of  the  Lake  and  west 

Some  outliers 141  of  Messi  swamp 142 

Natchitoches 142 

Low  Lands 

Messi  swamp 143     South  of  Chapiu's  lake  and 

East  of  Cane  river 143  Cane  river 143 

Stratigraphy 
Eocene 
Lignitic  stage 144     Lozver  Claiborne 145 

Quaternary 
Soils 

Quaternary 
Front  lands, 146     Back  lavds 147 

Eocene 

Calcareous  soils 147     Light,  sajidy  soil 147 

Springs 

Well-knoivn  springs [47      Chemical  analysis 148 

Fourth  of  fuly  spring 147     Breazeale  spri^ig 148 

Iron  spri7igs 148      Chemical  analysis 148 


Ill]       Special  Report  No.   i  :  Natchitoches  Area       141 

NATCHITOCHES  AREA 
Introduction 

Here  is  a  classic  spot  both  for  the  student  of  American  history 
and  American  geology.  It  is  geology  alone,  however,  with 
which  we  are  now  concerned. 

The  detailed  description  of  this  area  has  been  made  such  on 
account  of  the  prevalence  of  general  culture  and  the  location 
here  of  the  State  Normal  School  of  northern  Louisiana. 

As  a  preface  to  our  remarks  it  may  be  said  that  geology  is  a 
subject  learned  mainly  from  a  study  of  the  Earth,  not  simply 
from  a  study  of  books.  The  latter,  like  a  good  teacher,  may 
guide  and  stimulate,  but  cannot  take  the  place  of  personal 
research  on  the  part  of  the  student.  With  this  summary  of  the 
geology  of  Township  9  North  and  Range  7  West  in  hand,  the 
earnest  teacher  and  student  of  geology  will  quickly  extend 
observations  of  similar  character  to  adjoining  townhips,  and  will 
soon  be  the  means  of  causing  the  whole  parish  to  be  carefully 
mapped  topographically  and  geologically.  Great  good  will  come 
of  such  local  studies,  both  to  the  individual  carrying  on  the 
work  and  to  the  community  at  large. 

Topography 
H11.L  Lands 

Wesf  of  Old  river. — The  southwest  portion  of  this  township 
rises  up  gradually  going  northward  from  the  low-lands  of  Lake 
Jericho,  here  and  there  showing  small  abrupt  .slopes  in  the 
immediate  vicinities  of  the  larger  streams,  but  in  general,  low 
and  undulating.  Between  Texas  road  and  the  Lake,  however, 
high  ridges  are  prevalent,  separated  by  V-shaped  hills  or  ravines 
which  bifurcate  again  and  again  on  the  flanks  of  the  hills  or 
ridges.  To  see  this  interesting  type  of  topography,  go  over  the 
' '  Dam  ' '  and  cross  Mill  bayou  and  follow  the  trail  indicated  on 
the  map  to  the  westward. 

Some  oidliers. — Hickory  hill,  and  the  triangular  area  west — 
southwest  of  Chapin's  lake,  are  the  only  two  elevated  outliers 
left  in  this  portion  of  the  township  east  of  Old  river. 


142  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Natchitoches. — The  abrupt  topography  which  crosses  the  south 
central  portion  of  this  town  is  due  to  the  considerable  elevation 
which  the  general  land  surface  has  above  the  ordinary  level  of 
Cane  river.  This  means  that  the  little  branches  and  creek 
which  drain  this  portion  of  the  corporation  have  highly  inclined 
channels.  This  in  turn  means  a  large  amount  of  wear,  or 
erosion,  continually  undermining  their  various  banks.  Hence 
the  maintenance  of  the  abrupt  topography. 

North  of  the  town,  the  steep  escarpment  or  bluff  is  main- 
tained by  the  continual  undermining  or  wearing  away  of  its  base 
by  the  waters  of  Cane  river. 

It  will  be  observed,  by  the  map.  that  the  curve  of  the  river  is 
such  as  to  cause  it  to  impinge  upon  its  western  bank  with  force 
at  this  place. 

North  of  the  Lake  and  west  of  Messi  swamp. — North  of  the 
Lake,  the  land  slopes  gradually  upward  with  no  important  steep 
declivities  till  after  the  first  highway  is  passed.  Strongly  con- 
trasting with  this  topography  is  the  rugged,  broken  surface 
which  appears  on  every  hand  along  the  Camp  Salubrity  road 
from  the  Iron  springs  northward. 

Faithful  to  old  customs  the  road  winds  along  on  the  summits 
of  ridges,  securing  at  once  fine  drainage  and  fine  views. 

Between  Camp  Salubrity  and  the  railroad  there  is  a  high  ele- 
vation as  shown  on  the  map.  The  minor  details,  the  many  steep 
slopes  of  10  to  20  feet,  the  many  small  ridges  and  V-shaped 
valleys,  can  of  course  not  be  duly  represented  on  a  map  of  this 
character.  The  old  Lac  ^  Poisson  shown  on  the  government 
survey  plats,  no  longer  exists  in  ordinary  stages  of  water.  It  is 
represented  by  a  clear  stream  which  meanders  to  and  fro  across 
the  old  lake  basin,  fed  by  the  many  clear,  cool  springs  that  issue 
from  near  the  bases  of  these  hills. 

The  road  and  railway  to  Grand  Ecore  avail  themselves  of  the 
gentler  sloping  uplands  between  Lac  a  Poisson  and  Messi  swamp 
to  avoid  the  wetness  of  the  lowlands  and  the  steep  grades  of 
the  other  highlands. 

Sharp  and  abrupt  is  the  slope  from  this  last  mentioned  upland 
to  the  level  of  Messi  swamp.  Here  is  the  western  limit  of  the 
broad  stretch  of  bottomland  that  reaches  eastward  to  beyond  the 


Ill]        Special  Report  No.   i  :  Natchitoches  Area       143 

Saline.  Here  is  an  old  bluff,  formed  by  the  erosive  agency  of 
Red  river  many  hundred  years  ago  ;  but  it  has  since  been  deserted 
by  the  river  and  the  land  where  Messi  swamp  is  now  found  was 
formed  in  the  concave  angle  of  the  old  river,  and  the  latter  has 
been  continually  pushed  eastward  and  eastward. 

Low  Lands 

Messi  swamp. — This  shows  most  beautifully  the  typical 
topography  of  the  alluvial  plains  of  I,ouisiana's  rivers,  i.  e., 
high  and  dry  along  the  banks,  low  and  wet  a  short  distance  back. 

As  soon  as  land  increases  somewhat  in  value,  this  so-called 
swamp  will  be  drained  and  will  disappear  entirely  from  maps. 

East  of  Cane  river. — The  same  feature  of  elevated  banks  and 
lower  grounds  some  distance  in  the  rear  as  noted  above  are 
likewise  well  exhibited  in  this  region. 

The  various  bayous  in  the  northeastern  portion  of  this  area 
once  (prior  to  1849)  served  to  conduct  the  surplus  water  of  the 
then  Red  river  (now  Cane  river)  from  its  channel  to  other 
channels  farther  eastward.  But  since  the  desertion  of  Cane 
channel  by  Red  river  these  bayous  have  become  f  unctionless  and 
their  mouths  have  been  stopped  by  levees  or  road  embankments. 

The  observant  student  of  nature  will  not  fail  to  note  the 
entire  lack  of  streams  entering  Cane  river  from  Natchitoches  to 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  township. 

South  of  Chapin's  lake  and  Cane  river. — Chapin's  lake  is  a 
portion  of  the  ' '  Old  river  ' '  channel  cut  off  from  the  rest  by 
two  artificial  dams.  It  is  a  clear  body  of  water,  fed  by  springs, 
and  using  bayou  Bulikano  for  the  most  part,  for  its  over- 
flow waters. 

Old  river  is  fed  by  the  numerous  springs  about  Sibley's  lake 
or,  more  directly  by  Mill  bayou. 

Bayou  Julien  and  other  small  channels  are  used  principally  or 
almost  solely  for  flood-time  waters. 

The  general  adherence  of  the  roads  to  the  banks  of  the 
streams  means  here  as  elsewhere  that  the  higher,  better-drained 
stretches  of  land  are  in  close  proximity  to  water  channels. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  perhaps  to  add  that  stream  banks  are 
more  elevated  than  the  back  land,  simply  because  in  time  of 


144  Geological  vSurvey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

overflows  the  greater  amount  of  sedimentation  takes  place  not 
far  from  the  river  banks  and  hence  tends  in  the  course  of  a  long 
period  of  time  to  elevate  the  strips  of  land  immediately  border- 
ing the  streams. 

Stratigraphy 
Eocene 

That  the  reader  may  have  a  better  conception  of  the  strati- 
graphy of  this  township,  an  ideal  section  has  been  placed 
beneath  the  map,  showing  the  way  the  various  series  of  deposits 
lie  along  a  line  passing  east  and  west  through  Natchitoches  from 
the  points  W  to  E,  as  indicated  on  the  map. 

Beneath  the  whole  region,  at  a  depth  of  probably  not  over 
800  or  1,000  feet,  lie  Cretaceous  deposits.  Some  account  of  local 
outcrops  of  this  series  has  already  been  given   on  p.   52.,  et  seq. 

Lignitic  stage. — The  oldest  visible  beds  in  this  section  are  the 
lignitic  sands  and  clays,  appearing  for  the  most  part  in  the  north- 
western portion  of  the  township  though  occurring  elsewhere,  as 
for  example,  in  a  branch  or  creek  near  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  township  by  the  roadside.  Here  lignitic  and  ferruginous 
sands  are  to  be  seen  in  the  south  bank  of  the  creek.  But  par- 
ticularly abundant  are  the  light  yellowish  calcerous  concretions 
of  various  shapes  and  sizes.  So  abundant  are  they  that  they 
have  been  burned  for  lime. 

Probably  all  the  sands  and  clays  forming  the  hills  west  of 
Mill  bayou  are  of  this  age.  The  same  remark  applies  to  hilly 
lands  west  of  the  railroad  and  north  of  Sibley's  lake. 

Three-fourths  of  a  mile  north  of  Natchitoches  bridge  the 
bluff  as  shown  on  PI.  13,  exhibits  at  base  20-25  feet  of  purplish 
clay  with  sand  parting,  all  dipping  southward. 

Slightly  farther  to  the  right,  in  a  little  ravine,  a  bed  of  light- 
colored,  compact  sand  is  exposed,  showing  at  least  a  thickness 
of  15  feet.  This  bed  is  for  the  most  part  covered  by  the  talus 
at  the  base  of  the  bluff  shown  in  the  illustration. 

It  is  however,  at  Grand  Ecore,  a  place  on  Red  river,  a  few 
miles  north  of  Natchitoches  that  the  lyignitic  beds  are  best 
exposed.    A  section  of  the  same  has  already  been  given  on  p.  71- 

In  the  depths  of  little  ravines  in  the  northwestern  part  of  this 


D  e  p  e  s_i  t  s  - — 


7  n  depth  nf   from  Soo  lo  looo  fffi 


Sketch  of  NaichUoches  Township 


pacing  aiitl  clicckiiig  itpfrom  known  points  ;  direction^;  have  been  determined  by  a  4-inch  compass.^ 


?tails  have  been  worked 
r  readings  ;  distances,  bv 
nlly  accurate  for  geologi- 


m]       Special  Report  No.   i  :  Natchitoches  Area        145 

township,  sands  and  clays  of  this  stage  are  often  exposed  in  the 
immediate  vicinities  of  springs  and  rivulets. 

lyimestone  boulders  are  abundant  in  the  ravine  v/est  of  Camp 
Salubrity.  The}'  are  like  those  on  the  Kircha  road  in  the  S. 
W.  portion  of  the  township. 

This  is  most  decidedly  a  region  of  springs.  They  are  cool 
and  of  a  good  quality  of  water,  though  often  chalybeate. 
These  various  attributes  are  due  to  the  stratigraphy  and  topog- 
raphy of  the  region.  The  uplands  are  very  sandy,  occasionally 
ferruginous.  They  absorb  large  amount  of  rain  water.  This 
leaches  through  the  sandy  layers  until  it  strikes  impervious  clays 
and  then  is  forced  laterally  by  hydrostatic  pressure  and  gravity 
to  the  surface. 

The  good  character  of  the  spring  waters  of  this  region  is 
proof  of  the  absence  of  any  considerable  marly  material  here  in 
this  series. 

Lower  Claiborne. — The  town  of  Natchitoches  is  located  on 
deposits  of  this  age  as  is  shown  by  the  section  at  the  base  of  the 
Natchitoches  township  map.  The  bluff  three-fourths  mile  north 
of  this  bridge  shows  (see  PI.  13),  above  the  Lignitic  series,  beds 
of  about  50  feet  in  thickness,  of  3'ellow  marly,  or  calcareous 
clay  above,  in  the  field ;  and  glauconitic,  fossiliferous  sands 
from  the  brink  of  the  bluff  down  to  the  Lignitic  clays. 

A  description  of  the  various  marine  fossils  that  occur  in  this 
vicinity  -will  be  given  in  our  next  report  ;  this  report,  it  will  be 
remembered,  gives  the  paleontology  of  the  Cretaceous,  Midway, 
and  the  Lignitic  deposits.  Next  year  the  Lower  Claiborne, 
Jackson  and  Vicksburg  fossils  will  be  similarly  treated. 

The  attention  of  the  reader  is  called  to  the  way  in  which  the 
shells  in  these  marl  beds  decompose,  and  how  their  calcareous 
substance  afterwards  collects  concretion-wise  into  white,  irregu- 
lar, lime  nodules.  In  the  cuts  on  the  railroad  just  north  of  the 
corporation  these  nodules  are  very  abundant. 

Potable  well  water  or  spring  water  from  deposits  of  this  char- 
acter is  quite  out  of  the  question.  By  boring  through  these 
Lower  Claiborne  beds  into  the  Lignitic  clays  there  seems  to  be 
no  reason  why  the  pure  water  that  supplies  the  springs  in  the 
Lignitic  areas  should  not  occasionally  be  encountered  and  utilized 
to  great  advantage.  j 


146  Geological  Survey  of  IvOuisiana  [Sect. 

Bad  water  would  doubtless  be  met  with  if  the  drill  penetrated 
to  the  underlying  Cretaceous  strata. 

West  of  Old  river  and  south  of  Texas  road  the  surface 
material  is  mainly  Lower  Claiborne.  This  could  be  told,  if  by 
no  other  means,  by  the  frightfully  bad  road  bed  from  the  forks  of 
the  Texas  and  Kircha  roads  for  over  a  mile  southwest  along  the 
latter  road.  But  on  the  slopes  on  either  side  of  the  little  branch 
which  crosses  the  road  just  south  of  the  word  "  Kircha  "  on  the 
map  there  are  thin  ledges  of  limestone  replete  with  Ostreafalciformis 
and  a  small  discoid  foraminifer.  These  are  characteristic  Lower 
Claiborne  species. 

Why  the  road  is  better  for  perhaps  one-half  mile  south  of  this 
branch  is  because  the  Lower  Claiborne  marls  are  overlaid  by 
porous  sandy  layers,  into  which  the  water  can  sink  and  drain  off 
into  side  channels. 

Hickory  hill  appears  to  be  a  Lower  Claiborne  island  separated 
from  the  other  deposits  of  this  stage  by  the  alluvial  tract  between 
Bayou  Bulikano  and  Old  river. 

Quaternary 

After  the  Eocene  deposits  just  described  had  been  laid  down 
on  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  they  were  raised  considerably  higher 
above  sea-level  than  they  are  to-day.  This  accelerated  erosion, 
and  the  result  was  that  the  whole  eastern  half  of  this  township 
was  degraded,  doubtless  to  present  sea  level  or  even  below. 
This  action  went  on  until  the  land  was  once  more  depressed,  and 
then  the  refilling  of  this  deeply  eroded  area  commenced.  The 
section  at  the  bottom  of  the  map  shows  this  old  valley  filled  up 
to  its  present  appearance  by  Quaternary  sand  and  clay. 

The  low-lands  about  Mill  bayou,  and  in  fact  Sibley's  lake  bot- 
tom, consist  of  Quaternary  sands  and  clays  that  have  likewise 
refilled  an  old  post-Eocene  valley. 

Soils 

Quaternary 

Front  lands. — The  fine  reddish  loams    of  Quaternary    deposits 

along  the  borders  of  the  larger  streams  in  this  township  are  rich 

and  very  productive.     Corn  and  cotton  are  the  staple  products 

on  these  lands  at  present  and  very  satisfactory  are  the  results. 


^11]       Speciai,  Report  No.   i  :  Natchitoches  Area        147 

Back  layids. — Passing  along  each  lane  or  path  that  leads 
directly  back  from  the  large  stream  channels  one  observes  that 
the  soil  becomes  heavier,  darker,  and,  when  wet,  very  sticky. 
It  is  no  longer  cultivated,  but  allowed  to  become  wooded  with 
gum,  hackberry,  locust,  sycamore,  water  oak,  intertwined  with 
bamboo  and  greenbrier.  In  the  lower  places  a  few  scattering 
cypress  are  seen. 

Even  these  lands  are  far  above  the  normal  level  of  the  streams 
and  by  a  comparatively  small  expense  could  be  well  drained. 

Eocene 

Calcareous  soil. — Most  of  that  portion  of  the  township  west  of 
Old  river  and  south  of  Texas  road  as  indicated  in  the  map  shows 
a  decided  calcareous  or  limy  soil.  Occasionally  the  calcareous 
matter  is  overlaid  by  a  few  feet  of  sand.  The  same  remarks 
apply  to  the  uplands  in  the  few  square  miles  included  between 
bayou  Bulbeaux  and  Chapin's  lake.  Some  of  the  best  marly 
layers  from  the  streets  in  Natchitoches  are  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  chemists  of  the  Experiment  stations  for  analysis. 

Light  sa7idy  soil. — By  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  soil  in  the 
northwestern  portion  of  this  township  is  decidedly  sandy.  Sev- 
eral samples  have  already  been  collected  for  analysis.  Short-leaf 
pine,  oaks,  hickory,  dogwood,  etc.,  abound  on  the  ridges  ;  mag- 
nolia, holley,  etc.,  in  the  valleys. 

As  is  usual  with  soils  of  this  character  they  produce  well  for 
a  few  seasons  after  clearing  but  after  a  few  years  fail,  unless 
properly  cared  for,  to  yield  profitable  returns  for  the  labor 
expended  on  them.  Many  old  cotton-rowed  fields  are  overgrown 
now  by  forest  trees  of  considerable  dimensions.  Especially  is 
this  the  case  in  the  northwestern-most  part  of  the  township. 

Springs 

Well-Known  Springs 
Fourth  of  July  spring. — This  is  on  a  neighborhood  road  lead- 
ing out  from  Natchitoches  north  of  Sibley's  lake.  See  map. 
It  supplies  an  abundance  of  good  water.  Its  name  is  derived 
from  the  fact  that  on  hot  mid-summer  days  its  cool  waters  are 
sought  by  the  many  from  Natchitoches. 


148  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Iron  springs. — For  location,  see  map,  two  thirds  way  from 
Natchitoches  to  Camp  Salubrity.  About  five  different  sources 
of  water  are  here  found  in  a  few  yards  square.  The  waters  of 
each  rise  in  sunken  barrels  or  sections  of  large  tile.  They  pro- 
ceed from  light  Lignitic  sand  beds,  and  issue  at  a  level  of  per- 
haps 25  feet  above  that  of  "Lac  a  Poisson."  Their  waters 
are  chalybeate. 

These  springs  are  pleasantly  located  in  a  little  ravine  in  the 
woods.  Pine,  oak  (red,  white),  beech,  black  gum  and  maple 
are  the  commoner  trees. 

Chemical  Analysis  by  Maurice  Bird,  B.S. 

(Parts  per  100,000  of  water) 

"  Silica 6.4 

Iron  and  aluminum  oxides 8 

Lime  (CaO) 1.2 

Magnesia ...     .93 

Sulphuric  acid  (So^) 2.26 

Potash 6 

Soda 3.0 

Chlorine i-9  " 

"Water  is  colorless,  but  contains  a  little  brown  suspended  matter  ;  it  is 
neutral  to  litmus  paper  and  practical!}'  tasteless." 

Breazeale  spr-ing. — This  spring  is  still  farther  towards  Camp 
Salubrity. 

It  is  situated  in  a  steep  ravine  85  feet  below  the  Breazeale 
summer  house.  It  is  large,  stoned  up  with  lignitic  ferru- 
ginous sandstone. 

Analysis  according  to  Mr.  Bird 

(Parts  per  100,000  of  water) 

"  Silica 5.5 

Iron  and  aluminum  oxides 4 

Lime  (CaO) 9 

Magnesia 57 

Sulphuric  acid  (So^) 2.06 

Potash 4 

Soda 2.2 

Chlorine i-74" 

"  Water  is  clear  and  colorless,  neutral  to  litmus  paper  and  practically 
tasteless."* 

*The  Survey  is  under  obligations  to  Prof.  U.  P.  Breazeale  of  Natchi- 
toches for  obtaining  and  'transmitting  these  waters  to  the  Experiment 
Station  at  Calhoun. 


special  Report  No.  2. 


THE  SHREVEPORT   AREA 

BY 

Arthur  C.  Veatch 


CONTENTS 
Introduction 
Present  Topography  and  Drainage 
Red  River 

Page  Page 

Location  of  area 152      Width    of  cha^inel 153 

Slope  from  river 152     Slope  of  river 154 

SMALI.ER  Streams  of  The  Vai,i.ey 


Black  bayou 155 

Black  lake  bayou 155 

Red  and  Old  7xd  bayous  •  •  ■  ■  155 

Elmer' s  bayou 155 

Dooley' s  bayou 156 

Cowhide  and  Horseshoe  bay  oui^^b 
Peach  Orchard  bayou 156 


Sterling     and      Irishman's 

bayou 156 

Cottonivood  bayou 156 

Trinity  bayou 156 

Twelve  m.ile  bayou 1 56 

Cross    bay 071 157 

Old  ojitlets  on  the  east  bank.  .  157 
Postofi's  bayou 157 


Artificiai.  Channels 

SewelV  s  canal 158 

Hervey's  canal 157 

Lakes 

Cross  lake 158 

Sodo  lake •  •  1 58 

Ferry  lake 159 

The  Great  Raft 

Origin  and  Originai,  Extent 

Original  extent 160     Formation  of  outlet  bayous 

Origin 1 60 

Growth  and  Decay  of  The  Raft 

Manner  of  growth 161     Retreat  of  the  foot  of  the  raft.  163 


Other    canals 158 


Clear  lake 159 

ChefteVs  lake 159 

Smaller  lakes 159 


161 


Rate  of  advance  of  the  head  (irowth  of  vegetation  on   the 

of  the  raft 162  the  surface  of  the  raft.  .  .  ,  164. 

Formation  of  lakes 163 

Early  Attempts  at  Removing  The  Raft 

Period  :  1829- t8jj 164     Period :  i8jg-i8ji 165 

Sh reve '  s   ivork :  i8jj-i8j8 .165 

Final  Removal  of  The  Raft 
Woodruff's     work:       i8y2-  Present    Work  i8jj-i8pg.  .\6'j 

i8y3 166 

Effects  of  The  Raft 

Changes  Due  to  The  Formation  of  The  Raft 

Conditions   of    tipper   Caddo  Origin  of  Black  bayou  swamp. \^(^ 

bottoms  before  the  formation  Formation  of  Silver  lake  and 

of  the    raft 167  Postoti's   lake 169 

Formation    of    Cross,    Caddo  Outlet  bayous 169 

and  Ferry  takes 168  Sedimentatio?i 170 

Changes  Due  to  The  Removal  of  The  Raft 

Deepeni7ig  of  the  river  chan-  Draiyiage  of  the  lakes 172 

nel 171      Cross  bayoti  discharge 173 

Changes  Resulting  From  A  Combination  of  Causes 

Reversal  of  draiiiage  systems.  173     Forma  tio7i     of    irregular 

Formation  of  delta  at  foot  of  ridges 174 

Cross  lake 174 

Geology  of  The  Bottoms 
Formations  Represented 

Recent  beds 175     Age   of  beds 176 

Older  beds 175     Shells  from  the  front  land.  .  176 

Soils 

Varieties 177     Origin 178 

Peculiarities  and  distribution.  1 77 

Water   Supply 

Sources  of  water 179      Well  section    Lotus   landing 

Ge7ieral  section  of  Red  river  Robso?i  P.  O 180 

wells  below  Shreveport .  ...  179 


Physiography  of   The  Bottoms 

Waterfalls  and  Rapids 

Description i8i     Formation   of  waterfalls  and 

rapids 182 

Origin  of  Bottom  Lakes 

Classes 183     Lakes  of  inclosure 184 

Cut-off  or   Horseshoe  lakes.  .  183     Raft  lakes 185 

Notes  on  The  Geology  of  The   Hill-Lands 

The  Upland  Flats 

General  characters 189     Age  of  the  upiayid  flats.  .  .  .191 

Well  sections 190     Origin  of  the  mounds 192 

Colored  sands  and  clays 190 

The  Old  Tertiary 

Previous    work 195  Sands 199 

Slaughter  peyi   bluff 196  The  Ice- Factory  well 199 

Kansas    City,   Pittsburg  and  Coushatta  bluffs 200 

Gulf  railroad  cut,  south  of  Conclusio7is   201 

Cross  lake  bridge 198 

Appendix 

A  Catalogue  of  Aboriginal  Works  on  Caddo  Bottoms 
A  Dictionary  of  Altitudes  in  North  Caddo  Parish  and 

Adjacent  Portions  of  Bossier 
Introduction 
U.  S.  E.     Bend    Marks     and    Permanent     Reference 

Points  Show  on  Soil  Map  of  Upper  Red  River  Valley 


THK  SHREVEPORT  AREA 

Introduction 

The  field  work  on  which  the  present  incomplete  report  is 
based  was  done  in  the  latter  part  of  November  and  December, 
1898.  The  work  was  largely  the  preparation  of  a  soil  map  of 
the  bottoms  ;  and  as  it  has  now  been  decided  to  turn  over  all  soil 
work  to  a  division  devoted  exclusively  to  that  subject  it  has 
seemed  best  to  publish  the  information  collected. 

Thanks  are  due  to  many  Red  river  planters  for  their  kindness 
and  courtesy. 

The  valley  region  above  Shreveport  is  possibly  unique  in  the 
respect  that  changes,  which  usually  occupy  great  periods  of 
time,  and  whose  full  story  can  only  be  learned  by  deduction,  have 
taken  place  here  within  a  few  years.  Lakes  have  been  formed 
and  destroyed  ;  stream  beds  formed  and  abandoned  ;  waterfalls 
produced  to  destroy  themselves  ;  new  streams  formed  out  of 
parts  of  the  beds  of  old  ones ;  and  temporarj^  reversals  of  the 
drainage  systems  have  been  effected. 

Present  Topography  and  Drainage 
Red  River 

Location  of  area. — The  main  region  under  discussion  is  an 
irregular  area  lying  in  the  Red  river  valley  between  Shreveport 
and  the  line  between  Louisiana  and  Arkansas.  Red  river  valley 
in  this  region  is  from  four  and  a  half  to  eight  miles  wide. 

Slope  from  the  river. — As  in  other  alluvial  flood  plains  the 
greatest  elevation  is  along  the  present  banks  of  the  river. 
From  this  line  the  plain  slopes  both  ways  to  the  bounding  hills. 
The  amount  of  this  slope  varies  in  different  parts  of  the  plain. 
The  levels  run  by  Lieut.  E.  A.  Woodruff,  U.  S.  Eng.,  in  1871- 
72,  as  plotted  on  a  map  in  the  archives  of  the  War  Department, 
show  the  following  slopes  : 


i^^r^^r'^-m 


^^^■"^nfr^'tMi- 


I 
I 

I 


soil.    MM- 
KID    KI\  I  R    \\IIKY 


Ill] 


Special  Report  No.  2  :  Shreveport  Area 


153 


Slopes  of  Land  from  River  Bank  to  Bordering  Hills 


Inlet  to  Red  bayou  and  Black  lake  bayou 

Inlet  to  Irishman's  bayou  and  mouth  of  Dooley's 
bayou  on  Shift-Tail   lake 

Inlet  to  Cottonwood  bayou  and  mouth  of  Irish- 
man's bayou |     4.0 

Inlet  to  Cottonwood  bayou  and  Head  of  the  Passes 

Gold  Point  Bend  to  Albany 

Pandora  Bend  to  Twelve  Mile  bayou 


Distance 

Slope 
in  feet 

Slope 
per 
mile 

2.8 

1-3 

.46 

4-5 

II. 0 

2.44 

4.0 
5-0 

II. 0 

II.O 

2.75 
2.20 

3-0 

•5 

6.3 
2.8 

2.10 
5.60 

While  the  above  table  gives  the  average  slope  it  gives  no  idea 
of  the  slope  curve,  it  is  much  greater  near  the  river  bank 
and  less  near  the  distant  hills.  The  slope  for  the  first  thousand 
feet  from  the  river  is  generally  at  the  rate  of  about  30  feet, 
although  it  is  sometimes  over  100  feet,  to  the  mile. 

Width  of  the  charinel. — The  variation  in  the  width  of  the  chan- 
nel of  Red  river,  and  its  size  in  proportion  to  its  tributaries 
from  Shreveport  to  the  State  line  must  be  a  source  of  consider- 
able surprise  to  a  person  not  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  river. 

The  charts  of  the  Red  River  Survey  of  1886  gives  the  follow- 
ing stream  widths  in  the  vicinity  of  Shreveport  : 

Lower  Red  river 6-700  feet 

Cross  Lake   baj'ou 400     ' ' 

Twelve  Mile  bayou 230     " 

Upper  Red  river , 225     " 

From  the  mouth  of  Twelve  mile  bayou  to  the  head  of  the  old 
raft,  with  the  exception  of  a  stretch  of  13  miles  between  Hervey's 
canal  and  Dooley's  bayou,  the  river  is  very  narrow,  ranging  from 
i30to  250  feet  in  width.  Above  the  head  of  the  old  raft  it  widens, 
reaching  a  width  of  400  feet  at  the  State  line. 

River  bottof?i-basins — The  river  after  striking  the  western  hills 
at  Blankton's  Bluffs,  near  the  State  line,  meanders  diagonally 
across  the  valley  to  Miller's  bluffs.  It  makes  a  series  of  great 
loops  along  the  bluffs  on  the  east  side  and  again  strikes  the 
western  hills  just  below  Shreveport.     The  land  on  the  west  side 


154  GEOLOGICA.L  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

of  the  river  has  the  shape  of  a  great  basin  ;  the  hills  forming 
the  rim  of  the  basin  on  three  sides,  and  the  elevated  river  ridge  on 
the  other.  The  outlet  of  such  a  basin  must  necessarily  be  at 
its  lower  end,  just  above  the  place  where  the  river  again  strikes 
the  bordering  hills.  Such  bottom-basins  are  common  in  all 
alluvial  plains.  In  Red  river  valley  below  Shreveport  is  the 
basin  of  Bayou  Pierre,  extending  from  Shreveport  to  Grande 
Ecore  and  having  its  outlet  just  above  the  lower  bluff.  Above 
Shreveport  is  the  basin  of  Poston's  bayou  having  its  lower  limit 
at  Miller's  bluffs.  In  the  Mississippi  valley,  probably  the  best 
example,  is  the  Yazoo  bottom  extending  from  Memphis  to 
Vicksburg. 

Slope  of  the  river. — Varying  as  it  does  in  different  stages  and 
dependent  as  it  is  on  many  factors  the  slope  of  the  river  between 
Shreveport  and  the  State  line  can  hardly  be  stated  exactly. 
Of  the  three  methods  of  determining  the  average  slope  by  a 
comparison  of  high  water  records,  bank  levels  and  by  simulta- 
neous observations  on  the  water  surface,  the  first  two  are  to  be 
preferred. 

The  average  fall  in  the  banks  from  Missionary  to  Shreveport 
is  .57  feet  per  mile.  The  high  water  slopes*  vary  from  .41  in  the 
flood  of  1855  to  .60  in  the  flood  of  1879.  The  slope  of  the  flood 
of  1892,  .55  feet  or  6^  inches  per  mile,  probably  represents 
about  the  mean. 

Smai^i^ER  Streams  of  the  VALi^Evf 

Nearly  all  the  streams  formerly  leading  out  of  Red  river  have 
now  been  closed  by  levee  improvements.  Their  position  is 
however  well  marked  by  old  channels,  now  mere  rain-water 
drains.  The  streams  in  the  back-lands,  not  receiving  their  usual 
compliment  of  Red  river  waters,  have  shrunk  to  a  mere  fraction 
of  their   former    size.     The   intricate   network   of    bayous   and 


♦Tables  of  high  water  marks  on  Red  river.  Capt.  J.  H.  Willard. 
Annual  Report  Chief  of  Eng.,  for  1893,  vol.  2. 

t  The  nomenclature  of  these  streams  is  hopelessly  ponfused.  I  have 
endeavored,  in  describing  the  different  bayous  to  give  the  names 
•which  have  appeared  for  these  bayous  in  different  works  and  maps  and  to 
retain  the  old  name  if  it  is  not  greatly  in  variance  from  the  common 
name  of  to-day. 


ni]  Special  Report  No.  2  :  Shreveport  Area         155 

canals  makes  a  description  of  the  drainage  somewhat  difl&cult 
and  a  reference  to  the  map  (Plate  16)  will  probably  aid  greatly 
in  understanding  their  peculiarities. 

Black  bayou. — Entering  the  State  near  its  extreme  northwestern 
corner,  Black  bayou  flows  southeast  through  a  cypress  brake 
and  enters  the  river  valley  a  little  above  Irving 's  bluff.  At 
Irving's  bluff  it  turns  southwest,  along  the  line  of  bordering 
hills,  and  empties  into  the  old  bed  of  Clear  lake.  Just  below 
the  entrance  of  Sewell's  canal  the  bayou  has  a  depth  of  from  35 
to  45  feet. 

Black  lake  bayou. — Just  above  Irving's  bluff  Black  bayou 
receives  a  tributary  from  the  north.  This  bayou  has  had  a 
number  of  names  ;  from  the  Arkansas  line  to  a  point  opposite 
the  inlet  to  Red  bayou  at  Miller's  bluffs  it  has  been  called 
Kelley's  bayou,  Peace's  bayou  and  Black  Lake  bayou.  At  this 
point  an  old  channel  turns  eastward  and  connects  with  Red 
bayou.  This  old  channel  has  received,  in  addition  to  the  above 
mentioned  names,  the  name  Stumpj^-dam  bayou.  This  channel 
now  carries  very  little  water,  the  main  body  continuing  south- 
ward through  a  new  channel  known  as  Hackedy  or  Haggarty's 
slough. 

Red  and  Old  Red  bayous. — A  reference  to  the  map  of  the  bottoms 
in  1839  will  show  a  bayou  leaving  Red  river  opposite  the  lower 
part  of  Miller's  bluffs  and  running  southward  through  the  middle 
of  the  valley.  Sewell's  canal,  an  artificial  channel,  connects 
this  bayou  with  Black  bayou  at  Irving's  bluff.  The  effect  of 
cutting  this  channel  was  to  discharge  practically  all  the  water  of 
Red  bayou  into  Black  bayou.  Hence  that  part  of  the  bayou 
above  Sewell's  canal  alone  retains  the  name  Red  bayou ;  that 
below  is  known  as  Old  Red  bayou.  Old  Red  bayou  finally  turns 
westward  and  enters  Cheftel's  lake.  Red  bayou  has  an  old  well 
developed  channel. 

Elmer's  bayou. — Elmer's  *  or  New  bayou  after  a  short  west- 
ward course  from  Elmer's  Landing  or  Roswell  P.  O.  empties  into 
Red  baj^ou. 


*  It  seems  probable   that  Long's  New   bayou   mentioned  in  Senate  Doc. 
No.  64,  pp.  5,  27th  Cong.  istSess..  vol.  i,  1841,  refers  to  Elmer's  bayou. 


156  Geological,  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Dooley' s  bayou.^ — Just  below  the  old  Elmer's  bayou  outlet  and 
about  opposite  Coushatta  bluffs  is  the  head  of  Dooley's  bayou. 

It  is  a  young  channel  much  divided  by  islands  and  in  several 
places  crossed  by  beds  of  hard  resisting  clay  which,  just  above 
the  channel  of  Old  Red  bayou  and  a  little  below  the  ancient 
Dooley's  lake,  has  formed  a  little  water-fall.  The  bayou  appro- 
priates about  a  mile  of  the  Old  Red  bayou  channel,  reverses  the 
ancient  flow  of  a  portion  of  it  and,  leaving  it,  continues  its 
course  southwest  into  Cheftel's  lake. 

Cow-hide  and  Horseshoe  bayous. — The  old  outlet  to  these  bayous 
is  just  above  Carolina  bluffs.  A  short  distance  from  the  river 
the  two  channels  Separates.  Horseshoe  describes  a  course  to  the 
northward  almost  as  far  as  Wild  Lucia  and  finally  reaches  Old 
Red  bayou  at  a  point  almost  due  west  of  its  source.  It  follows 
the  channel  of  Old  Red  bayou  for  half  a  mile  and  then  turns 
southwest  and  empties  into  Dooley's  bayou  and  Old  Red  bayou 
near  Cheftel's  lake.  Cowhide  bayou  enters  Old  Red  bayou 
about  a  mile  below  Horseshoe. 

Peach  Orchard  bayou. — Another  common  name  for  this  bayou 
is  Shift-tail  bayou,  which  seems  to  be  a  corruption  of  Cheftel's 
bayou.  On  the  early  land  office  maps  it  is  called  Coshatta 
Chute.  It  is  the  next  old  outlet  below  Cow-hide  bayou  and 
after  a  short  course  southwest  it  joins  Old  Red  bayou. 

Sterling  and  Irishman' s  bayous. — Following  the  course  of  the 
river  the  next  bayou  to  start  westward  is  Sterling  bayou.  After 
a  course  of  about  two  miles  it  changes  its  name  to  Irishman's 
bayou.  It  follows  a  course  about  parallel  to  Old  Red  bayou  and 
empties  near  the  foot  of  Cheftel's  lake. 

Cottonwood  bayou. — The  first  considerable  old  outlet  channel 
on  the  west  bank  above  Shreveport  is  Cottonwood  bayou.  It 
left  the  river  just  above  Hurricane  bluffs  and  empties  into  Sodo 
lake  above  Albany. 

Tri?iity  bayou. — Connecting  Cottonwood  and  Irishman'sbayous 
and  in  the  general  line  of  Old  Red  ba^^ou,  this  has  also  been 
called  Red  bayou. 

Twelve  Mile  bayou. — In  ordinar)-  stages  of  water  this  is  the 
most  considerable  tributary  stream  which  Red  river  receives  in 


*  Spelt  Dooky's  and  Dooly's  on  the  early  Land  office  township  sheets. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  2  :  Shreveport  Area  157 

the  region  under  discussion.  It  is  the  outlet  of  the  Cypress 
bayou  and  Black  bayou  drainage  systems  as  well  as  all  the  back- 
lands  between  Shreveport  and  the  State  line.  Before  the  closing 
of  the  outlet  bayous  in  upper  Red  river  the  discharge  of  this 
channel  was  greater  than  the  river  proper.  It  has  also  been 
called  Caddo  and  Sodo  bayou.  It  formerly  emptied  into  Red 
river  a  little  over  two  miles  above  Shreveport  but  by  a  cut  off  of 
the  main  river  its  mouth  has  now  advanced  to  within  a  mile  of 
the  city. 

Cross  bayou. — The  outlet  of  Cross  lake,  in  its  upper  part 
called  Bowman's  Chute,  empties  into  Red  river  at  Shreveport. 
Its  normal  drainage  area  is  small,  being  a  ver}'  limited  region 
about  Cross  lake.  In  flood  times  it  receives  a  very  large  amount 
of  water  from  the  upper  valley  through  "The  Pass."  It  has 
thus  been  able  to  discharge  at  times,  and  indeed  under  the  old 
raft  regime  normally,  more  water  than  either  Twelve  Mile  bayou 
or  Upper  Red  river. 

Old  outlets  on  the  east  bank. — On  the  east  side  there  are  several 
old  outlet  channels  below  Hurricane  bluffs.  The  principal  ones 
are  :  Benoit's  bayou.  Starvation  or  William's  bayou  and  Willow 
Chute. 

Boston's  bayou. — The  spelling  of  this  name  has  varied  quite  a 
little.  Originally  Poston's,  it  became  Posten  and  Postern.  It 
drains  the  back  land  above  Miller's  bluffs. 

ArtificiaIv  Channei-s 

During  the  raft  period  navigation  between  upper  and  lower 
Red  river  was  possible  only  by  devious  channels  through  the 
bayous  and  lakes  of  the  back-land.  In  an  attempt  to  improve 
these  channels  and  to  render  navigation  possible  a  number  of 
artificial  cuts  were  made.  These  were  greatly  enlarged  by  the 
water  flowing  through  them. 

SeweW s  canal. — The  earliest  and  probably  the  most  important 
of  these  artificial  channels  was  Sewell's  canal.  This  was  cut  in 
1839  by  Lieut.  Sewell,  U.  S.  A.,  from  Black  bayou  near  Irving's 
bluff  to  Red  bayou  and  diverted  the  waters  of  the  later  bayou  to 
Black  bayou. 


158  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Hervey' s  canal. — When  the  raft  closed  the  mouth  of  Red 
bayou  a  canal  was  cutabout  1859  by  Col.  C.  M.  Hervey  from  the 
river  four  miles  above  the  Red  bayou  outlet  into  what  was  then 
Simpson's  lake. 

Other  canals. — As  the  raft  advanced  other  canals  were  cut  : 
on  the  west  side — Kountz's  canal  and  Sale  and  Murphy's  canal  ; 
on  the  east  side,  Alban's  three  canals. 

Lakes 

Cross  lake. — About  a  mile  west  of  Shreveport  is  the  foot  of 
what  is  left  of  old  Cross  lake.  It  is  extremely  irregular  and  is 
now  possibly  seven  or  eight  miles  long. 

It  was  formed  by  the  filling  of  an  old  flat-bottomed  stream 
valley  with  water.  This  is  the  reason  for  its  very  irregular  shape. 
On  a  small  scale,  a  similar  result  is  obtained  when  an  artificial 
dam  is  thrown  across  a  little  valley  to  form  a  pond  ;  water  fills 
the  space  behind  the  dam  and  extends  itself  not  only  up  the  main 
valley  but  a  little  way  into  each  side  valley.  An  examination 
of  the  map,  Plate  16,  will  show  old  Cross  lake  to  have  the  shape 
of  this  type  ;  the  main  lake  occupies  the  main  stream  valley  and 
in  the  place  of  each  little  side  stream  there  is  a  little  sharp 
re-entrant  bay. 

As  seen  in  last  December  the  Bowman's  chute  outlet  exhibited 
a  rather  peculiar  phenomena.     The  head  of  the  bayou  shows  a 
complete  delta  (see  map  and  plate  15)  and  the  water  instead  o 
flowing  from  the  delta  was  flowing  toward  it.     That  is,  there  is 
here  a  delta  with  the  current  reversed. 

Sodo  lake. — Whatever  the  origin  and  meaning  of  this  name 
its  spelling  has  undergone  several  changes  in  the  present  cen- 
tury ;  originally  Sheodo,'*'  Sodor,t  or  Soder^  it  bacame  Sodo  or 
Soda.  It  has  also,  with  Ferry  lake,  been  called  Caddo  lake, 
after  the  Caddo  Indians.  The  lake  now  occupies  a  narrow  strip 
along  the  base  of  the  hills,  four  or  five  miles  long  and  half  a 
mile  wide. 


*Bowman,  25th  Cong.  2dSess.  Senate  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  i,  p.  353,  1838. 
f  Map  of  T.  19  N.,  R.  15  W.,  La.  Meridian.     Land  office  maps. 
{Map  of  Red  river,  by  Capt.  H.    M.    Shreve,    23  Cong.  istSess.,  House 
Ex.  Doc,  vol.  3,  No.  98,  p.  13,  1834. 


Ill]         Special  Report  No.  2  :  Shreveport  Area         159 

Ferry  lake. — Connected  with  Sodo  lake  by  Big  Willow  pass  is 
Ferry  or  Fairy  lake.  It  differs  from  Sodo  in  having  hills  on 
both  sides  ;  being  exactly  the  same  type  as  Cross  lake,  a  lake 
occupying  an  old  stream  valley.  Ferry  lake  is  quite  shallow 
with  a  narrow  line  of  deeper  water  winding  irregularly  through 
it.  This  lake  is  rendered  particularly  interesting  by  the  large 
number  of  cypress  and  oak  stumps  standing  upright  in  it,  even 
in  the  deepest  water. 

Near  the  Texas  line  a  large  valley  partially  filled  with 
water  enters  Ferry  lake  from  the  north.  This  long  arm  of  the 
lake  is  known  as  Coushatta  Jim's  bayou  or  as  simply  James 
bayou. 

Clear  lake. — Just  north  of  Big  Willow  pass  and  connected  with 
the  lower  end  of  Ferry  lake  by  stumpy  bayou  is  the  bed  of  the  most 
peculiarly  shaped  lake  in  the  bottoms.  It  is  kite-shaped  with  the 
larger  end  toward  the  north.  The  larger  end  is  almost  entirely 
occupied  by  a  triangular  elevated  island  called  Pine  island,  which 
seems  to  be  the  same  as  the  adjacent  upland  fiats.  As  seen 
early  in  December  the  lake  bed  showed  a  mass  of  cockle-burs,  a 
few  cypress  trees  and  a  narrow  band  of  water  in  the  central  por- 
tions about  200  yards  wide. 

ChefteVs  lake. — The  common  name  Shift-tail  seems  to  be  a  cor- 
ruption of  Cheftel.  It  is  a  very  narrow,  shallow  lake  lying  east 
of  the  lower  end  of  Clear  lake. 

Smaller  lakes. — The  river  after  reaching  the  eastern  hills  at 
Miller's  bluffs  makes  three  great  loops  along  their  coral  margins. 
Several  small  bottom-basins  are  thus  formed.  The  southernmost 
of  these  formed  by  the  loop  between  Carolina  and  Hurricane 
bluffs  is  occupied  by  Adjer's  lake. 

In  the  next  bend  are  two  small  lakes,  remnants  of  a  much 
larger  one,  both  of  which  retain  the  name  of  the  original  one, 
Mark's  lake. 

Dutch  John's  lake  in  the  bend  between  Coushatta  and  Miller's 
bluffs,  in  ordinary  water-stages  consists  of  three  parts.  These  are 
the  remnants  of  the  larger  Dutch  John's  lake  of  the  raft  period. 
Silver  lake  occupies  an  old  stream  valley  between  Cedar  and 
Coushatta  bluffs.  In  the  outlet  of  Silver  lake  is  a  little  water- 
fall about  ten  feet  high. 


i6o  Geologic Ai.  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

The  Great  Raet 
Origin  and  Original  Extent 

Original  extent. — There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  the  raft 
once  extended  far  below  the  place  where  Shreve  commenced 
work  on  the  i  ith  of  April,  1833.  The  early  Spanish  and  French 
accounts  speak  of  the  raft  beginning  near  Natchitoches.  Dr. 
Joseph  Paxton  in  a  very  able  letter  (/.  c.)  written  in  1828  says:* 
"  The  time  is  yet  within  the  memory  of  some  of  the  oldest  inhab- 
itants in  and  near  Natchitoches,  when  the  lower  end  of  the  raft 
was  still  below  that  place  ;  and  the  Governor  ordered  out  the 
troops  in  command,  to  break  down  and  cause  to  float  off,  all  the 
parts  then  below." 

Dr.  John  Sibley,  writing  from  personal  observation,  in  1805, 
says  :  "At  the  upper  house  (of  thisCampti  settlement)  the  great 
raft  or  jam  of  timber  begins.  This  raft  chokes  the  main  chan- 
nel for  upwards  of  one  hundred  miles  by  the  course  of  the  river  ; 
not  one  entire  jam  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  it,  but  only 
at  points  with  places  of  several  leagues  that  are  clear. "f 

Between  Natchitoches  and  the  mouth  of  Red  river  trunks 
of  trees  growing  only  on  upper  Red  river,  such  as  cedar  and 
bois  d'  arc,  have  been  seen  in  the  banks  in  several  places.  These, 
in  themselves,  do  not  prove  that  the  raft  once  extended  this  far 
down  the  river,  since  local  masses  of  drift-wood  might  have 
accumulated  before  the  raft  period  ;  but  in  the  light  of  the 
recorded  recession  of  the  raft  from  Natchitoches  and  Campti  to 
Loggy  bayou  it  would  seem  quite  reasonable  to  look  upon  them 
as  indicating  the  former  prolongation  of  the  foot  of  the  raft  well 
down  toward  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

It  is  possible  that  the  rapids  at  Alexandria  were  formed  by  the 
choking  of  the  original  channel  by  raft  and  the  consequent 
enforced  passage  of  the  river  over  a  low  outlying  spur  of  the 
Grand  Gulf  rocks. 

Origin  of  the  Raft. — Before  the  clearing  of  the  banks  of  Red 
river  for  cultivation  the  amount  of  timber  caving  into  the  river 


*2oth  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  Senate  Doc.  vol.  i,  No.  78,  p.  5,  1829. 
t  Chief  of  Eng.  Report  for  1873,  p.  640  ;  also,  43d  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  House 
Ex.  Doc.  No.  I,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  640,  1873. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :    The  Raft  i6i 

after  each  flood  must  have  been  very  considerable.  Trees  thus 
thrown  into  the  river  catch  on  the  bars  ;  are  exposed  to  the  sun 
and  thoroughly  dried,  the  branches  are  broken  off  ;  and  after  a 
time,  in  a  high  flood,  they  find  their  way  into  the  Mississippi 
and  finally  into  the  sea.  If  at  any  time  the  amount  of  timber 
brought  down  should  be  unusually  large  it  may  become  jammed 
in  a  short  narrow  bend,  or  accumulate  about  a  series  of  snags  or 
* '  planters  ' '  and  start  a  ' '  raft. ' ' 

Dr.  Paxton  describes  at  certain  stages  of  high  water  in  the 
Mississippi  an  eddy  near  the  mouth  of  Red  river  which  ascends 
or  descends  according  to  the  difference  between  the  stages  of  the 
two  rivers.  Timber  floating  down  the  river  would  tend  to  col- 
lect in  this  eddy,  and,  as  Paxton  suggests,  it  is  possible  for  the 
conditions  to  be  such  that  this  mass  of  timber  should  become 
jammed  in  the  river. 

Whether  this  be  the  true  explanation  or  not,  it  is  certain  that 
the  narrowness,  crookedness  and,  before  any  improvements  were 
made,  the  great  number  of  "planters"  in  Red  river  would  in 
themselves  be  quite  sufficient  to  produce  a  log-jam.  A  jam  once 
solidly  formed  collects  all  other  material  floating  down  the  river. 
Some  of  the  logs  become  soaked  with  water  and  gradually  sink  to 
the  bottom  or  are  forced  there  by  the  weight  of  other  logs  and  the 
small  spaces  between  the  logs  are  soon  filled  with  leaves  and  silt. 

Formation  of  Outlet  Bayous. — The  level  of  the  water  above  is 
raised  by  this  obstruction  and  the  river  continues  to  rise  until  it 
flows  over  its  banks.  More  water  will  flow  over  the  lower  places 
and  there,  aided  by  the  great  velocity  given  it  by  the  great 
slope  between  the  front  and  back  lands,  will  soon  erode  a  very 
considerable  channel.  This  channel  will  then  become  for  the 
time  the  main  river  channel. 

This  water  goes  to  the  extreme  edge  of  the  valley  and  follows 
the  edge  of  the  hills  till  it  enters  the  river  again  at  the  lower  end 
of  the  bottom-basin  it  happens  to  have  entered. 

Growth  and  Dkcay  of  the  Raft 

Manner  of  growth. — Between  the  head  of  the  raft  and  the  out- 
let bayou  will  be  a  space  of  water  with  little  or  no  current,  and 
timber  floating  down  the  river  will  stop  at  the  upper  end  of  this 

K 


i62  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

slack  water  or  will  be  drawn  toward  the  narrow  outlet  channel. 
The  timber  will  soon  obstruct  this  channel  and  the  raft  thus 
started  will  extend  across  and  up  the  river.  This  raft  will 
become  more  and  more  compact  with  the  accumulation  of  other 
timber,  as  well  as  silt  and  leaves,  another  outlet  will  be  made 
above  and  the  process  repeated  until  the  river  is  obstructed  for 
many  miles. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  great  resultant  raft  is  not  a  single  pro- 
longed raft,  as  has  been  supposed  by  those  who  have  not  studied 
the  river,  but  a  series  of  larger  and  smaller  rafts  with  open 
spaces  between.  The  timber  portion  of  the  raft  occupied  from 
a  third  to  a  half  of  the  whole  space.* 

Rate  of  advance  of  the  head  of  the  rdft. — In  this  manner  the  head 
of  the  raft  moves  up  stream  at  a  rate  varying  (i)  directly  with 
the  amount  of  timber  brought  down  ;  (2)  with  the  amount  of 
space  left  between  the  parts  of  the  raft ;  and  (3)  inversely  with 
the  width  and  depth  of  the  river.  For  a  short  space  of  time  the 
growth  may  even  be  negative.  Thus  :  if  a  raft,  formed  above  an 
inter-raft  space,  happens  to  give  way  during  very  high  water, 
when  water  is  flowing  over  the  raft  below,  it  will  be  carried 
down  till  stopped  by  the  lower  raft.  Thus  the  head  of  the  raft 
will  actually  move  down  stream.  This  is,  however,  but  a  tem- 
porary interruption. 

The  greatest  annual  raft  accumulation  recorded  is  five  miles. 
In  a  letter  dated  Jan.  16,  1836,  Capt.  Shreve  says:  "Raft  has 
accumulated  five  miles  since  last  May.  Unusually  high  freshets 
having  brought  down  three  times  the  usual  amount  of  material,  "f 
The  same  thing  occurred  again  in  April,  1879,  when  a  single 
freshet  formed  a  jam  whose  aggregate  length  was  five  miles. J 
These  two  instances  are,  however,  very  much  above  the  average 
rate  of  formation. 

The  average  movement  of  the  raft  up  stream  from  1820  to 
1872  was  a  trifle  over  four-fifths  of  a  mile  per  annum  ;  as  shown 
by  the  records  of  the  U.  S.  Engineers  who  made  examinations 


*23d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc.  No.  98,  vol.  3,  p.  9. 
f  24th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  Senate  Doc,  voL  3,  No.  197,  p.  2,  1836. 
%  46th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  House   Ex.  Doc.  No.  i,  voL  2,  part   2,  p.  95,  1879, 
Also,  Annual  Rept.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1879,  vol.  2,  p.  952. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :    The  Raft  163 

of  the  river.     The  following  table  gives  the  accumulation  in  the 
different  periods  : 

From  1820  to  1838 16     miles  (L,ieut.  Col.  Long*). 

1839  to  1857 14      miles  (Lieut.  Col.  Longf). 

1857  to  1872 13.5  miles  (Lieut.  WoodruffJ). 

Of  this  space  only  from  a  third  to  a  half  was  occupied  by  timber. 

Formation  of  lakes. — As  the  head  of  the  raft  moves  up  the  val- 
ley it  will  obstruct  the  outlets  of  the  bottom  basins  and  tributary 
stream  valleys  and  by  preventing  the  discharge  of  the  streams 
convert  them  into  lakes.  The  size  of  these  lakes  will  be  further 
increased  in  two  ways  :  (i)  the  checking  of  the  river  current  in 
the  raft  region  will  result  in  the  deposition  of  great  amounts  of 
sediment.  This  will  build  up  the  bed  and  banks  of  the  river  and 
so  increase  the  height  of  the  dam  at  the  mouth  of  the  lake  ;  (2) 
as  the  raft  continues  its  movement  up  stream  outlet  bayous  will 
be  formed  and  a  porton  of  the  river  current  deflected  into  these 
lakes. 

Retreat  of  the  foot  of  the  raft. — For  a  number  of  years  after  its 
formation  and  until  enough  logs  decay  in  the  lower  end  to  allow 
the  remaining  logs  to  be  floated  off  in  high  water  the  foot  of  the 
raft  will  remain  stationary.  The  rate  of  retreat  will  be  even 
more  irregular  than  the  advance  of  the  head  of  the  raft  because 
a  snag  or  two  of  very  resisting  wood  may  be  able  to  keep  back  a 
large  amount  of  decayed  raft  for  many  years  and  even  after  their 
decay  several  years  may  elapse  before  a  suflBciently  large  flood 
will  occur  to  occasion  enough  current  at  the  foot  of  the  raft  to 
float  the  fragments  away. 

The  information  bearing  on  the  rate  of  decay  of  the  foot  of 
the  raft  is  not  so  full  or  satisfactory  as  that  bearing  on  the  rate 
of  advance  of  the  head.'  According  to  the  letter  of  Dr.  John 
Sibley,  quoted  above,  in  1805  the  foot  of  the  raft  was  at  the 
Campti  settlement.  At  the  beginning  of  Shreve's  work  in  1833 
the  foot  was  just  above  Loggy  bayou,  a  distance  of  about  59 
miles  by  the  charts  of  the  Red  River  Survey.  This  would  give 
an  average  annual  rate  of  decay  of  about  2^  miles. 

*  27th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Senate  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  64,  p.  10,  1841. 
f  35th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Senate  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  3,  p.  1053,  1859. 
X  43d  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  648. 


164  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Assuming  60  or  70  years  for  the  time  since  the  oldest  inhabit- 
ants at  Natchitoches  saw  the  raft  at  that  place,  Paxton  concludes 
that  the  rate  of  retreat  was  about  equal  to  the  advance, 
that  is,  about  a  mile  a  year.* 

It  seems  probable  that  the  rate  of  retreat  between  1805  and 
1833  was  abnormally  great.  If  it  be  the  true  rate  of  retreat 
the  original  raft  160  miles  long  would  have  destroyed  itself  in 
less  than  62  years.     This  is  manifestly  an  impossibility. 

Growth  of  vegetation  on  the  siwface  of  the  raft. — The  decay  of 
the  logs  and  the  accumulation  of  silt  on  the  surface  of  the  raft 
will  afford  a  place  for  the  growth  of  plants.  In  summer  the 
weeds,  vines,  small  cottonwoods  and  willows  which  spring  up  on 
the  surface  of  the  raft  may  entirely  cover  the  raft  with  foliage  ; 
giving  to  the  raft  a  false  appearance  of  solidity. 

In  speaking  of  the  surface  of  the  raft  Lieut.  Woodruff  says  :t 
"  No  trees  grow  upon  floating  raft  except  a  few  small  cotton- 
woods  and  willows  which  have  taken  root  in  some  decaying  log  ; 
but  the  whole  surface  of  all  the  rafts,  except  the  newest  forma- 
tion, is  covered  in  summer  with  a  dense  growth  of  weeds,  vines 
and  small  willows.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the 
surface  of  the  most  compact  raft  affords  at  ordinary  stages  secure 
footing." 

Early  Attempts  at  Removing  the  Raft 

Period:  1829-18J0. — In  the  beginning  of  this  century  when 
the  attention  of  the  government  was  first  turned  to  internal 
improvements,  the  continued  efforts  of  the  congressmen  from 
the  State  of  Louisiana  and  the  Territory  of  Arkansas,  as  well 
as  the  difficulties  experienced  in  transporting  supplies  to  Fort 
Townson,  caused  the  government  to  undertake  the  improvement 
of  Red  river. 

The  first  appropriation,  $25,000,  made  May  23,  1828,  was 
almost  entirely  consumed  before  1833  in  preliminary  examina- 
tions and  in  making  the  passage  around  ths  raft  safer.  No 
attempt  was  made  to  remove  the  raft. 


*20th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  Senate  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  78,  1829. 
f  Report.    Chief  of   Eng.    for    1873,  also   43  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex. 
Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  642,  1873. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area:  The  Raft  165 

The  steamboat  route  around  the  raft  is  given  in  a  letter* 
written  in  1825  by  George  Izard  as  passing  through  parts  of  the 
following  lakes  and  bayous:  "  Coshattee  Shute,"  "Lake  Bis- 
tino,"  Swan  lake,  "  Badcaw  "  bayou  and  lake,  Bee  bayou,  Mud 
lake,  Stump-lake  and  Willow  bayou. 

Shreve's  work:  i8jj~i8j8. — When  Shreve  commenced  the 
work  of  removing  the  raft  the  foot  was  a  little  above  Loggy 
bayouf  and  the  head  near  Hurricane  bluffs. 

The  first  year  the  work  progressed  very  rapidly  in  the  deca3^ed 
portions  of  the  raft,  71  miles  of  river  being  cleared.];  As  the 
more  solid  portions  of  the  raft  were  reached  the  removal  pro- 
gressed much  slower.  The  amount  of  raft  removed  the  fourth 
year  of  the  work  (1837)  was  only  12^  miles. § 

On  March  7,  1838  Shreve  reached  the  head  of  the  raft,  which 
was  then  midway  between  Cowhide  bayou  and  Cedar  bluffs,  ||  and 
the  first  steamboat  passed  through. 

Period :  i8jq-iSji. — In  July,  1838,  almost  immediately  after 
the  close  of  Shreve 's  work,  a  new  raft  2,300  feet  long  formed 
three  miles  below  the  head  of  the  old  raft,  very  near  the  Sterling 
bayou  outlet**  and  as  this  was  not  removed  every  freshet  added 
to  it. 

It  was  then  that  the  Red  bayou  route  around  the  raft  was  first 
utilized.  Colonel  Sewell  of  the  U.  S.  Army  in  1839ft  finding 
the  river  blocked  left  the  river  just  above  Shreveport  and  pass- 
ing through  Twelve  Mile  bayou,  Sodolake,  Stumpy  bayou.  Clear 
lake  and  Black  bayou  reached  Irving's  (then  McNeil's)  bluff- 
Here  he  cut  a  canal  into  Red  baj^ou  and  passing  through  Red 
bayou  entered  the   river  again    opposite   Miller's   bluffs.     This 

*  19th  Cong.  2d  vSess.,  House  Report,  vol.  2,  No.  96,  pp.  4-5,  1827. 

tSee  "  Rough  Sketch  of  that  part  of  Red  river  in  which  the  Great  raft 
is  situated,  and  the  Bayous,  Lakes,  Swamps,  etc.  belonging  to  or  in  its 
vicinity."  By  Capt.  Henry  M.  Shreve,  23d  Cong.,  rst  .Sess.,  House  Ex. 
Doc,  vol.  3,  No.  98,  1834. 

J  23d  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  3,  No.  98,  p.  10,  1834. 

§  25th  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  Senate  Doc,  vol.  i.  No.  i,  p.  351. 

II Long,  27th  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  Sen,  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  64,  p.  9. 

**26th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.  Sen.  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  i,  pp.  205-209,  1840.  Also 
26th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  2,  pp.  205-209. 

ff  Collins,  43d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  658, 
1874. 


i66  Geological  Survey  of  Loulsiana  [vSect. 

route  was  destined  to  be  the  main  steamboat  passage    for  the 
next  thirty  years. 

The  raft  of  1838,  which  had  its  origin  near  Sterling  bayou  was 
partially  if  not  altogether  removed  b}^  Capt.  Thomas  Williamson 
in  I 84 I -2-3. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1843  a  new  raft  formed  at  Carolina  liluffs, 
midway  between  Peach  Orchard  and  Cow-hide  bayous,  and  at 
the  time  of  the  Fuller  survey  in  1854  had  prolonged  itself  a  dis- 
tance of  13  miles  to  a  point  2  miles  above  the  head  of  Dooley's 
bayou.  Fuller  in  1856  removed  the  portion  above  the  head  of 
Dooley's  bayou  and  the  following  year  undertook  the  improve- 
ment of  Dooley's  bayou  ;  hoping  to  form  a  steamboat  route 
around  the  raft  through  Dooley's  bayou,  Cheftel's  lake,  Stumpy 
bayou,  Big  Willow  pass,  Sodo  lake  and  Twelve  Mile  bayou. 

The  large  accumulations  of  drift  in  1856-7  filled  the  bend  below 
Elmer's  bayou.  To  avoid  this.  Fuller  cut  two  canals  into  Dutch 
John's  lake,  which  are  known  as  Fuller's  Inlet  and  Outlet.  The 
early  formation  of  the  raft  above  the  Inlet  very  soon  effectually 
stopped  this  route.  Capt.  C.  M.  Hervey  says,  in  a  letter  to  lyieut. 
Woodruff  in  1872,  that  no  steamboat  ever  succeeded  in  passing 
through  the  Dooley's  bayou  route. 

In  1859  the  raft  reached  and  blocked  the  mouth  of  Red 
bayou  ;  thus  closing  the  only  practiceable  route  between  upper 
and  lower  Red  river.  The  first  of  the  upper  canals,  Hervey's 
canal,  was  then  cut.  When  this  was  closed  other  canals  were 
cut  higher  up  the  river,  affording  very  dangerous  temporary 
routes  around  the  raft. 

FiNAi,  Removai,  of  the  Raft 
Woodruff's  work. — On  December  i,  1872*  Lieut.  E.  A. 
Woodruff,  U.  S.  A.,  commenced  the  removal  of  the  raft  which 
originated  at  Carolina  Bluffs  in  1843.  The  work  was  made  much 
easier  than  early  work  by  the  use  of  nitro-glycerin  ;  and  the 
work  progressed  so  much  more  rapidly  that  the  head  of  the 
raft,  which  was  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  above  O'Roukes' 
slough,  was  reached  in  November  1873. f 


*43d  Cong,    istSess.,   House   Ex.  Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  64,   1874  ;  also 
An.  Kept.  Chief  of  Eng.,  for  1874. 

t  43d  Cong.  2d  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  3,  p.   702,  1874. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :    The  Raft  167 

Present  work :  i8yT,-i8pp. — Although  the  raft  was  removed 
the  conditions  for  raft  formation  were  everywhere  present  along 
the  river  for  60  miles.  The  channel  was  very  narrow  and 
filled  with  silt,  snags  and  fragments  of  the  old  raft  ;  the  amount 
of  water  passing  along  the  main  channel  was  only  a  portion  of 
the  whole  discharge  of  the  river,  the  balance  passing  out  the 
numerous  enlarged  outlet  channels.  Log  jams  immediately 
formed  only  to  be  broken  up  by  the  government  boats.  Now, 
after  25  years  work,  by  removing  all  the  snags  and  by  closing 
the  outlet  bayous  thus  forcing  all  the  water  to  flow  in  the  main 
channel,  the  river  has  so  enlarged  itself  that  it  is  capable  of 
carrying  its  timber  with  only  the  possibility  of  forming  jams. 

Effects  of  the  Raft 
Changes  Due  to  the  Formation  of  the  Raft 

Conditio?!  of  upper  Caddo  botto7ns  before  the  formatio?i  of  the 
raft. — The  great  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  Caddo 
bottoms  in  recent  times  are  due  (i)  to  the  formation  of  the  raft, 
(2)  to  its  removal.  The  condition  of  the  bottoms  before  the 
formation  of  the  raft  can  be  approximated  quite  closely.  Red 
river  occupied  very  nearly  its  present  position.  The  banks  of 
the  river  were  probably  on  an  average  from  5  to  10  feet 
lower  than  they  are  to-day.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  river 
has  even  now  finished  cutting  out  the  sediment  deposited  in  the 
main  channel  of  the  river  during  the  raft  period  and  hence  it 
may  be  that  the  river  has  not  3'et  reached  its  former  base  level. 

A  sluggish  stream,  the  ancestor  of  Black  lake  and  Red 
bayous  entered  the  northern  Caddo  bottom  basin  at  the  present 
state  line  and  made  its  devious  way  through  the  middle  of  the 
bottoms.  At  what  time  connection  was  established  between 
this  bayou  and  the  river  no  man  can  tell.  It  may  be  that  the 
bayou  occupies  parts  of  old  channels  left  by  the  river  in  its 
journey  across  the  bottoms  and  has  been  connected  with  the 
river  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  period.  The  shape  of 
Red  bayou  for  its  first  mile  and  a  half  from  the  river  is  how- 
ever peculiar  and  it  may  be  that,  in  the  constant  changing  of 
the  great  bends  of  the  river,  one  has  approached  the  bayou 
channel   very   closely   and  during  some  period  of  high  water  a 


i68  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

channel  was  cut  between  the  two.  Shortl)'  after  this  time  the 
river  cut  across  the  narrow  neck  of  the  great  bend,  leaving  a 
great  half-moon  shaped  connection  with  the  old  bayou. 

A  second  stream,  occupying  a  fairly  deep  cypress-fringed 
channel  in  the  middle  of  a  level  bottom  similar  to  those  which 
accompany  all  streams  of  even  moderate  size  over  all  northern 
Louisiana,*  entered  the  river  bottoms  above  Irving's  bluff.  It 
followed  somewhat  closelj^  the  western  hills  ;  passed  through  the 
eastern  part  of  what  is  now  Clear  lake  and  at  the  lower  end  of 
what  is  now  Stumpy  bayou  emptied  into  a  large  bayou  coming 
from  the  west. 

This  large  stream  was  the  ancestor  of  Cypress  and  Twelve 
Mile  bayous.  It  was  a  fairly  rapid  cypress-fringed  stream  with 
a  slope  of  possibly  a  foot  to  the  mile.  It  meandered  through  a 
fairly  level  valley  covered  wath  over-cup  oak  and  a  few  scattering 
pine  trees  and  after  its  entrance  to  the  river  valley,  where  it 
received  the  waters  of  the  ancient  Black  bayou,  it  meandered 
through  the  river  bottoms,  now  near,  now  bending  far  out  from 
the  Albany  line  of  hills.  Somewhere  near  Albany  it  probably 
received  the  waters  of  the  old  Black  lake  and  Red  baycu 
drainage  system.  From  there  its  course  to  the  river  was  along 
the  line  of  the  present  Twelve  Mile  bayou. 

At  Shreveport  another  little  creek  valley  with  its  crooked  little 
stream  opened  into  the  river  valley. 

The  formation  of  Cross,  Caddo  and  Ferry  lakes. — When  the  raft 
in  its  progress  up  the  river  approached  the  mouth  of  the  little 
creek  which  drained  Cross  lake  valley,  the  water  was  backed  up 
into  the  valley.  As  the  distance  between  the  mouth  of  the 
little  stream  and  the  raft  diminished  the  level  of  the  water  in  the 
valley  was  raised  and  when  the  raft  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
creek  the  water  in  the  valley  reached  a  level  equal  to  the  banks 
of  the  river. 

When  the  mouth  of  Twelve  Mile  bayou  was  reached  the  lower 
part  of  the  Shreveport-Blankton's  bluffs  bottom-basin  was  filled 
with  water  forming  Sodo  lake.  The  water  was  also  backed  up 
into  the  Ferry  lake  valle3^ 

The  flooding  of  Ferry  lake  valley  killed  all  the   trees.     After 

*For  a  discussion  of  similar  creek  bottoms  see  article  on  page  68. 


iLi^5£v>;;>iiii; 


z:2sssi:asss^ 


,---:ri^/>!.t 


GKOLOGIC.M.   t^URVKY   OF    LOUISIANA,    REPORT,     1899 


A    R    K    A    X    S    A    S 


R   16   W  „-J     R  15   W        "^J^f^^^i^  R  14   W 

.l/ii/>  0/  .Woilhern  Caddo  parish  in  iSjo-     Compiled  from  Public  land  Siittfys 


By  a.  C.   Veatch 


^11]  Shreveport  Area  :  The  Raft  169 

a  time  the  tops  of  the  dead  trees  were  broken  off  by  the  winds, 
leaving  the  unsightly  stumps  as  silent  witnesses  of  the  great 
catastrophe. 

A  peculiar  ox-bow  shaped  depression,  being  below  the  level  of 
the  banks  of  the  river  at  the  mouth  of  Twelve  Mile  bayou  was 
filled  with  water  at  the  same  time  forming  Clear  lake. 

Origin  of  Black  bayou  swamp. — The  Black  bayou  stream 
valley  being  higher  than  the  Cypress  bayou  stream  valley  was 
not  so  deeply  inundated  by  the  daming  of  Twelve  Mile  bayou. 
Still  it  was  low  enough  *  to  receive  a  little  water.  Cypress  trees, 
being  fitted  by  their  peculiar  knees  to  grow  in  such  a  situation, 
soon  converted  the  land  into  a  cypress  swamp. 

Formation  of  Silver  lake  and  Poslo?i's  lake. — Silver  lake  and 
Poston's  lake  were  formed  in  the  same  way,  the  first  in  a  stream 
valley  the  second  in  a  bottom-basin,  but  at  a  later  date.  Poston's 
lake  is  shown  on  the  land  office  charts  made  in  1839,  when  the 
raft  was  far  below  its  outlet,  as  a  bayou.  On  Woodruff's  map 
of  1872  it  is  a  large  lake  offering  a  good  steamboat  passage.  It 
is  now  a  bayou.  Thus  in  fifty  years  a  lake  large  enough  for  the 
passage  of  large  steamboats  has  been  formed  and  destroyed. 

Outlet  bayous — The  formation  of  the  outlet  bayous,  both  arti- 
ficial and  natural,  has  already  been  discussed.  It  only  remains 
to  call  attention  to  the  development  of  the  drainage  systems  by 
outlet  bayous.  A  reference  to  the  two  maps  accompanying  this 
report  will  show  something  of  this  development. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  the  lower  part  of  Old  Red  bayou  the 
outlet  channels,  Dooley's,  Cowhide  and  Horseshoe,  have  delib- 
erately cut  across  the  old  channel.  Indeed  the  map  seems  to 
indicate  that  Trinity  bayou  and  the  lower  part  of  Cottonwood 
bayou  represent  the  true  continuation  of  Old  Red  bayou,  and 
that  the  portion  of  Old  Red  baj'ou,  so  called  which  flows  west, 
is  really  a  continuation  of  the  Peach  Orchard  outlet. 


*  The  average  elevation  of  the  river  banks  about  Shreveport  is  about  170 
feet  above  Gulf  level.  The  bottom  of  Black  bayou  where  crossed  by  the 
Kansas  City,  Pittsburg  and  the  Gulf  Railroad  is,  according  to  the  railroad 
companies  corrected  levels  173  feet.  Thus  the  lower  part  of  the  valley 
would  probably  receive  a  few  inches  of  water  and  even  if  the  water  did 
not  back  up  into  the  valley  the  current  would  be  so  checked  that  the 
lower  part  of  the  valley  would  be  very  imperfectly  drained. 


170  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Most  of  the  outlets  were  made  before  any  of  the  land  surveys, 
and  we  have  a  record  of  the  formation  of  one  of  them  only. 
In  1841  Lieut.  Col.  Long  says:  "  Commencing  at  the  southern 
boundary  of  Arkansas  and  proceeding  downwards,  we  have  in 
succession  the  following  considerable  outlets  from  the  main 
river,  communicating  more  or  less  directly  with  Caddo,  or  Sodo 
lake,  situated  on  the  southwest  or  right  side  of  the  valley,  viz.: 
Red  bayou,  which  is  the  uppermost  of  all  the  bayous  within  the 
district  just  mentioned;  New  bayou,  Dooly's  bayou,  and  Chef- 
tel's  bayou,  besides  several  others  of  inferior  size.  The  three 
bayous  first  mentioned  are  situated  above  the  head  of  the  raft ; 
while  the  last  passes  from  the  river  at  a  point  about  midway  of 
the  new  or  present  raft.  One  of  these  outlets,  viz.:  New  bayou, 
has  been  formed  during  the  existence  of  the  present  raft."* 

Sedimentatio7i . — One  of  the  most  important  changes  wrought  by 
the  raft  was  the  building  up  of  the  land  by  sedimentation.  The 
checking  of  the  current  by  the  raft,  the  large  stretches  of  almost 
dead  water  both  in  the  river  and  the  lakes  afforded  conditions  for 
the  rapid  deposition  of  sediment  that  are  seldom  excelled. 

The  result  was  that,  in  the  stream  channel  over  fifteen  feet  of 
sediment  was  deposited.  Along  the  banks  the  deposition  ranged 
from  a  very  thin  layer  on  the  higher  portions  to  ten  or  even  more 
feet  at  lower  levels.  Lieut.  Woodruff  says  in  regard  to  the 
average  rate  of  deposition  :  "I  think  that  the  average  increase 
of  elevation  of  the  immediate  banks  of  the  river  and  principal 
bayous  from  near  Carolina  bluffs  to  the  present  head  of  the  raft, 
during  the  past  thirty  years,  is  about  3  feet.  Mr.  James  Marks, 
an  intelligent  and  observant  resident  near  Carolina  bluffs, 
estimates  this  deposit  at  five  feet."t  In  the  lakes  the  deposition 
was  much  more  irregular  and  generally  slower.  There  seems  to 
be  no  way  of  determining  even  approximately  the  deposition  in 
the  lakes.  In  the  region  of  the  Indian  mounds  in  Sec.  5,  19  N., 
14  W.,  which  was  all  under  water  during  the  raft  period,  there 
is  a  layer  of  stiff  red  clay  from  6  inches  to  a  foot  thick  overlying 
a  black  sandy  clay  similar  to  that  on  the  Caddo  prairie. 


*27th  Cong.  1st  Sess.  Senate  Doc,  vol  i,  No.  64,  pp.  3-4. 

+  43d  Cong;  1st  Sess.  House  Ex.  Doc.  vol.  2  part  2,  p.  642,  1873. 


Ill]  Shrkveport  Area  ;    The  Raft  171 

The  deposition  near  the  main  bayou  mouths  was  undoubtedly 
much  greater.  Parts  of  the  old  Cypress  bayou  channel,  in  the 
region  of  Albany,  was  filled  to  the  level  and  above  the  banks 
of  the  old  stream  by  the  material  brought  down  by  Red  bayou. 

After  the  cutting  of  Sewell's  canal  with  the  resultant  diversion 
of  the  waters  of  Red  bayou,  a  great  deal  of  sediment  was 
deposited  in  the  lower  part  of  Ferry  lake.  H.  C.  Collins  gives 
an  interesting  account,  in  1872,  of  the  passage  of  the  water  of 
Stumpy  bayou  into  Ferry  lake.  He  says  :  "  Most  of  the  water 
follows  the  bluff,  and  passes  into  Ferry  lake  on  its  north  side,  the 
current  running  west  up  the  north  side  of  the  lake  about  a  mile, 
and  depositing  in  it  a  large  amount  of  its  mud.  At  times  of  rapid 
rise  of  the  river  there  is  a  strong  current  up  the  lake  to  the  west, 
so  that  sometimes  Red  river  water  is  .seen  beyond  the  Texas 
line."* 

Changes  Due  to  the  Removal  of  the  Raft 

Deepening  of  the  river  channel. — After  the  removal  of  the  raft 
the  current  immediately  commenced  removing  the  sediment 
deposited  during  the  raft  period.  Attention  was  first  drawn 
forcibly  to  the  erosion  of  the  channel  by  a  peculiar  obstruction 
in  the  river  about  15  miles  above  Shreveport,  known  as  the 
"  Dawn  Stumps." 

There  were  several  hundred  of  these  standing  upright  in  the 
bed  of  the  river  and  when  the  raft  was  first  removed,  boats  passed 
over  them  without  difficulty.  In  1886  they  pojected  six  feet 
above  the  surface  at  low  water  and  those  in  the  middle  of  the 
channel  were  cut  off  as  near  the  water  surface  as  possible.  The 
following  year,  at  the  same  stage,  the  stumps,  that  had  been 
cut,  projected  four  or  five  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water.f 
They  were  finally  entirely  removed  with  high  explosives. 

Maj.  J.  H.  Willard,  U.  S.  E.  about  1892,  succeeded  in  recov- 
ering some  of  the  benches  of  the  Woodruff  survey  and  so 
determined  the  exact  amount  of  the  erosion  since  the  removal  of 


*lbid,  pp.  657-658. 

f  J.  H.  Willard.  Preliminan-  Examination  of  the  Lakes  connected  with 
Red  river,  etc.  50th  Cong,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  4,  p.  1490,  1887. 
Also,  An.  Rept.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1887,  vol.  2,  p.  1490,  1887. 


172  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

the  raft.  He  says  :  "  Having  recovered  some  of  the  benches  of 
Maj.  Howell's  and  Lieut.  Woodruff's  surveys,  and  reduced  the 
levels  to  Cairo  datum,  it  is  found  that  the  water  line  has  fallen 
more  than  15  feet  at  the  head  of  the  raft,  diminishing  to  about 
3  feet,  at  Shreveport,  while  a  similar  reduction  has  been  going 
on  in  the  river  below."*  Thus  the  river  is  tending  to  return  to 
the  conditions  which  existed  before  the  raft  period. 

Drainage  of  the  lakes. — In  the  lake  region  the  irregular  deposi- 
tion of  sediment  has  rendered  the  return  of  that  region  to  pre- 
raft  slower  than  in  the  main  channel.  Certain  of  the  old 
channels  have  been  more  than  filled  with  sediment  and  the 
streams  which  have  been  forced  by  this  filling  to  flow  over  older, 
harder  beds  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  cutting  channels  in  them 
to  a  depth  equal  to  the  depth  of  the  old  channels.  The  reduc- 
tion in  the  size  of  the  lakes,  though  hindered  in  this  way,  has 
nevertheless  been  very  marked.  Sodo  lake  is  a  very  noticeable 
instance  of  this  reduction  in  size.      (Compare  plates  14  and  16.) 

Poston's  lake  has  returned  to  very  nearly  it  former  condition. 
This  is  because  the  raft  had  not  been  above  the  mouth  of  Pos- 
ton's bayou  long  enough  to  fill  its  old  channel,  and  hence  this 
lake  experienced  none  of  the  difficulties  of  the  lower  lakes. 

At  Silver  Lakef  the  former  outlet  has  been  entirely  filled  and 
the  water  is  engaged  in  cutting  a  new  channel  through  the  older 
clays  on  which  it  has  been  forced. 

Simpson's  lake,  a  lake  w^hich  formerly  existed  just  above 
Elmer's  bayou,  and  Dooley's  lake,  have  been  almost  entirely 
obliterated.  During  the  raft  period  they  were  almost  completely 
filled  with  sediment  and  after  the  removal  of  the  raft  the  lower- 
ing of  the  river  channel  by  erosion  completed  the  drainage. 

The  cutting  out  of  the  river  channel  has  resulted  also  in  the 
partial  drainage  of  the  small  lakes  in  the  bends  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river.  Marks'  lake  has  shrunk  to  two  small  lakes,  and 
the  encroachment  of  the  river  on  Adger's  lake  threatens  to  com- 
pletely destroy  it.     Dutch  John's  lake  has  shrunk  to  about  one- 


* \x\..  Rept.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1893,  pp.  T909-1910,  1893. 

+  This  Silver  Lake  which  occupied  a  valley  in  Coushatta  bluffs,  should  not 
be  confused  with  the  now  dry  Silver  lake  near  Shreveport, which  has  entirely 
drained  since  the  removal  of  the  raft. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area:  The  Raft  173 

third  of  its  former  size.     Near  Shreveport,  Swan  lake    is  com- 
pletely destroyed. 

Cross  bayou  discharge. — After  the  removal  of  the  raft  and  the 
formation  of  the  second  raft,  which  forced  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  river  current  to  flow  through  the  lakes,  the  water  seeking 
the  shortest  channel  through  the  bottoms  cut  the  channel  known 
as  ' '  The  Pass  ' '  between  Sodo  and  Ferry  lakes  ;  and  nearly  all 
the  water  returned  to  the  river  through  Cross  bayou.  Before 
the  closing  of  the  outlet  ba5^ous,  even  after  the  removal  of  the 
raft,  the  discharge  of  Cross  bayou  in  medium  and  high  stages  of 
water  was  always  greater  than  either  Twelve  Mile  bayou  or 
Upper  Red  river. 

Changes  Resulting  from  a  Combination  of  Causes 

Reversal  of  draiyiage  systems. — The  great  discharge  through 
Cross  bayou,  while  the  river  about  Hurricane  bluff  was  clogged 
with  raft  material,  resulted  in  an  upstream  current  at  times  as 
high  as  Benoit's  bayou*.  Fuller  states  that  the  upstream  cur- 
rent ran  as  far  as  "half  the  distance  between  Shreveport  and 
Red  bayou, ' '  or  as  far  as  Willow  chute.    Woodruff  questions  this.f 

Ivinnard's  early  account,  however,  agrees  with  Fuller.  He 
says  :  '  'During  the  freshets  the  greater  part  (of  this  water)  sweeps 
directly  across  the  channel  of  the  river,  and  continues  eastward 
to  the  Bodcau  lake  ;  a  portion  ascends  the  channel  to  Benoit's, 
or  Williams'  bayou,  or  the  Willow  chute  and  the  remainder 
passes  down  the  channel  J 

The  cutting  of  Sewell's  canal  has  resulted  in  the  reversal  of 
the  drainage  for  about  a  mile  down  the  bayou.  A  new  channel 
was  made  across  the  old  Henderson  fields  between  1864  and  1871 
and  water  flowed  from  Dooley's  lake  through  it  and  Old  Red 
bayou  to  Sewell's  canal. § 

A  number  of  the  bayous  and  canals  which  were  outlets  during 
the  raft  periods  have,  since  the  removal  of  the  raft,  became  inlets. 
This  is  true  of  Alban's  canals  and  Poston's  bavou. 


*Long.  27th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  Senate  Doc,  vol.  i.  No.  64,  pp.  9-10. 
f  33d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Senate  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  7,  No.  62. 
{  28th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Senate  Doc,  vol.  i,  No.  i,  p.  289,  1845.   . 
§  An.  Rep.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1873,  p.  658. 


174  Geological  vSurvey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Formation  of  the  delta  at  the  foot  of  Cross  lake. — The  peculiar 
delta  at  the  foot  of  Cross  lake  has  already  been  described  under 
Cross  lake,  and  the  peculiar  fact  noticed  that,  at  present,  in 
ordinary  stages  of  water  the  water  flows  from  the  delta  instead 
of  into  it. 

Under  the  old  raft  regime  the  great  amount  of  water  sweeping 
through  the  pass  from  Sodo  lake  into  Cross  lake  must  have 
carried  with  it  a  great  deal  of  sediment  and  thus  silted  up  the 
lower  end  of  Cross  lake  valley.  The  ancient  stream  channel  was 
entirely  filled  and  the  present  outlet  was  thus  forced  to  flow  over 
projecting  points  of  the  older,  harder  Eocene  material.  The  delta 
at  the  head  of  Bowman's  chute  is  one  of  the  incidents  of  the  silt- 
ing up  of  the  foot  of  Cross  lake.* 

Formation  of  irregular  ridges  in  the  bottoms. — Along  the  river 
front  and  the  banks  of  bayous,  where  the  sandy  front  land  is  well 
developed,  the  surface  is  often  very  irregular  as  if  a  great  volume 
of  water  had  rushed  through  in  time  of  flood,  cutting  a  multitude 
of  little  gullys  and  leaving  little  irregularly  shaped  knolls  one  to 
two  feet  high. 

They  are  markedly  different  from  the  natural  mounds  of  the 
post-oak  or  upland  flat  region  ;  they  are  not  so  uniform  in  shape, 
so  symmetrical,  being  irregularly  oblong  rather  than  circular, 
and,  a  minor  difference,  they  are  not  so  high.  The  ridges  are 
well  developed  in  Sec.  33,  20  N.,  14  W. 

The  theorj'  of  the  current  origin  of  the  upland  flat  topography 
hardly  seems  probable  when  these  unquestionably  current-formed 
mounds  are  seen. 

Old  shore  line  at  Cross  lake  bridge. — Extending  along  the  base 
of  the  hills  and  about  15  feet  above  the  present  water  level  is  a 
little  wave  formed  bluff  ranging  from  a  few  feet  to  12  feet  in 
height.  It  represents  the  old  water  level  of  the  lake.  As  the 
interval  between  the  formation  of  this  lake  and  the  removal  of 
the  raft  was  about  60  years,  this  bluff  represents  the  effects  of 
50  years'  wave  work.  It  is  best  developed  just  east  of  the  south 
end  of  the  railroad  bridge.     (Plate  17.) 


*0n  plate  15  a  delta  is  shown  only  at  the  head  of  Bowman's  chute.  This 
was  the  only  portion  of  the  foot  of  the  lake  carefully  examined.  The  other 
channels  should  show  the  same  peculiarity. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :    Geology  175 

Geology  of  the  Bottoms. 
Formations  Represented. 

Recent  beds. — The  recent  Red  river  deposits  cover  the  greater 
part  of  the  area  and  consist  of  all  gradations  from  a  light  red 
sandy  loam  to  a  stiff,  dark  red  clay.  In  places  it  exists  as  a  mere 
veneer  over  the  presumably  older  deposits  ;  in  others  it  covers 
it  to  great  depths. 

Older  beds. — Outcropping  here  and  there  through  the  bottoms 
and  exhibited  in  places  along  the  river  banks  are  beds  of  blue 
clay  markedly  different  from  the  river  deposits  formed  under  the 
present  regime.  Its  altitude  varies  greatly*,  indicating  consider- 
able erosion. 

The  blue  clay  outcrops  in  several  places  at  Dooley's  bayou,  in 
the  bottom  of  Willow  pass  and  Albany  flats.  At  the  last  two 
places,  the  blue  clay  seems  to  be  simply  a  weathered  continua- 
tion of  the  dark  gray  Eocene  clays  of  the  adjoining  bank. 

On  the  west  bank  of  the  river  in  the  S.  W.  %  of  the  N.  E.  % 
of  Sec.  3,  19  N.,  14  W.,  there  is  a  limited  exposure  of  the  older 
clays.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  only  the  recent  reddish 
sandy  loam  was  seen  ;  about  200  yards  above  the  point  where 
the  section  was  taken  only  the  most  recent  deposition  filled  with 
logs  of  the  raft,  occurs. 

The  section  here  exposed  is  : 

Section,  Red  River  Bank,  James  Eric  Place  {Sec.  3,  ig  N.,  14  IV). 
3.     Light  reddish  yellow  sandy  loam  containing  numerous 

specimens  of  Helix;  grading  above  into  surface  loam,    10  ft. 
2.     Dark  bluish  black, crumbly  clay  grading  below  into  red 

sandy  clay 6  ft. 

I.     Jointed  clay  containing  numerous  irregularly  shaped 

calcareous  concretions.   Blue  above,  mottled  with  red 

below 7^  ft. 

The  two  lower  strata  seem  to  be  in  part  represented  in  the 
Caddo  prairie  section,  though  that  section  contains  more  sand. 
In  the  southern  part  of  Caddo  prairie  the  older  beds  are  repre- 
sented by  beds  of  poor  yellow  and  red  clayey  sand,  very  different 
from  the  sandy  front  lands  of  the  river  but  similar  to  the  sands 


176  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

of  the  adjoining  hill  lands.  The  upper  part  of  the  red  sands 
grades  into  a  very  fertile  black  sandy  loam  showing  in  places 
numerous  specimens  of  UnionidcB.  Caddo  prairie  occupies  -the 
highest  part  of  the  back  bottom  lands. 

This  layer  of  black  sandy  loam  with  Unios  appears  in  the  sides 
of  the  bayous  in  several  places  in  the  bottoms,  commonly  over- 
lying the  same  poor  sands. 

Age  of  the  beds. — The  exact  age  of  these  beds  can  only  be  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  The  blue  clay  suggests  the  Port  Hudson 
beds  of  Hilgard  and  the  spirited  discussion  of  the  age  of  the  blue 
clay  of  the  Mississippi  bottoms.  In  this  region  some  of  the  blue 
clay  is  clearly  part  of -the  adjoining  Eocene  formations,  as  at  the 
rapids  at  Albany  flats  and  Big  Willow  pass. 

The  poor  red  sands  may  represent  outliers  of  the  Eocene  hill 
lands  or  may  belong  to  the  same  age  as  the  upland  fiat  deposits. 
Examples  of  unquestionably  erosion-formed  outliers  are  to  be 
seen  in  several  places  in  the  bottoms.  Just  above  the  mouth  of 
Black  Eake  bayou  are  two  mounds  which  are  merely  detached 
portions  of  the  hill-lands.  Pine  island  in  Clear  lake  seems  to  be 
of  the  same  class.  The  data  at  hand  are,  however,  at  present  a 
little  too  meagre  to  admit  of  drawing  any  ver}^  definite  con- 
clusions on  the  exact  age  of  the  sands. 

Shells  from  the  frojit  land. — Some  of  the  light  yellowish-red 
loam  which  occupies  the  immediate  banks  of  the  river  is 
extremely  loess-like  in  texture  and  appearance.  The  resem- 
blance is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  presence  of  numerous  land 
shells.  Mr.  C.  T.  Simpson,  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  has 
identified  the  following  species  from  Sec.  14,  19  N.,  14  W.  : 

Pyramidula  alterjiata,  Polygyra  palliata.f 

Polygyra  thyroides.  Omphalina  friabilis. 

Polygyra  claicsa.  Helicina  orbiculata. 

Polygyra  inflect  a. 

To  this  list  of  species  Mr.  Simpson  has  added  :  "  We  do  not 
have  any  of  the  Oinphalhia  friabilis  quite  so  flat  as  the  species 
you  send,  and  one  or  two  others  are  a  little  different  from  the 
ordinary  manifestations  of  the  same  species.  P.  ilij'roides  as  sent 
by  you  has  a  closed  umbicilicus  and  in  our  shells  it  is  open." 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area:  Soils  177 

A  comparison  of  specimens  shows  the  following  species  from 
layer  three  of  the  James  Eric  section  : 

Soils* 

Varieties. — The  partially  complete  soil  map  accompanying 
this  report  shows  but  three  soils,  viz. : 

1.  Red  sandy  loam.      (Front  land.) 

2.  Stiff  red  clay.      (Back  land.) 

3.  Black  sandy  clay.      (Prairie.) 

These  are  the  principal  types,  but  by  the  mixing  of  different 
proportions  of  the  three  kinds  an  almost  indefinite  number  of 
varieties  are  produced.  Number  one  grades  into  number  two, 
making  it  quite  difficult  to  say  just  where  one  begins  and  the 
other  ends.  The  line  between  the  second  and  third  is  generally 
well  marked  if  the  land  has  not  been  plowed.  The  red,  stiff  land 
thins  out  to  a  feather  edge  on  the  edge  of  the  prairie  land  ;  when 
the  land  is  plowed  the  two  are  thoroughly  mixed,  forming  a  com- 
plete series  of  soils  from  one  to  the  other. f 

It  often  happens  that  a  thin  veneer  of  stiff  red  clay  will  over- 
lie a  layer  of  sandy  loam.  In  plowing  these  are  thoroughly 
mixed,  forming  what  is  locally  called  "dough-faced  land." 
A  mixture  of  back-land  and  prairie-land  produces  "  black  stiff 
land." 

Peculiarities  and  distribtUion. — The  red,  sandy  loam  occupies 
the  highest  portions  of  the  bottoms  along  the  immediate  banks 
of  the  river  and  the  old  outlet  bayous.     The  predominant  tree  is 


*No  satisfactory  account  of  the  soils  can  be  written  until  they  have  been 
analyzed.  Such  analyses  of  the  samples  collected  in  this  region  are  now 
being  made  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Stubbs.  Reports  of  these  analyses 
will  be  published  in  Dr.  Stubb's  work  on  the  soils  of  the  State.  The  notes 
here  offered  are  rather  on  their  general  aspect  and  location  than  on  their 
agricultural  value. 

t  On  the  map  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  show  only  the  predominate 
soil.  Thus,  if  an  area  is  mapped  "  front  land  "  it  does  not  mean  that  the 
land  is  always  typical  red,  sandy  loam,  but  that  the  red,  sandy  loam  is  the 
principal  constituent  of  that  soil.  The  overlapping  of  one  material  on  the 
others  makes  satisfactory  soil  mapping  quite  difficult.  The  surface  maybe 
typical  stiff  red  land  and  an  inch  or  more  below,  black  land.  The  depth  of 
the  lower  layer 'varies  greatly  over  even  a  small  area. 
L 


178  Geological   Survey  of   Louisiana  Sect.} 

the  Cottonwood  ;  but  ash,  hickory,  red  oak  and  sweet  gum  also 
occur. 

As  the  distance  from  the  river  and  bayous  increases  the  amount 
of  sand  in  the  soil  decreases  and  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
stream  channels  the  sandy  front  land  has  changed  into  stiff  clay 
back  land.  This  ranges  in  color  from  a  dirty  cherry-red  to  a 
rich  dark  mahogany.  Here  the  cypress  and  hackberry  find  con- 
genial homes. 

The  surface  aspect  of  the  little  spots  of  prairie  land  scattered 
through  the  bottom  is  markedly  different  from  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding heavily  wooded  country.  There  are  a  few  scattered 
cottonwoods,  numerous  scrub  thorns  (hawthorn  and  honey-locust) 
and  grass ;  altogether  a  sort  of  forbidding  looking  place,  but 
when  cleared  yielding  excellent  crops.  If  the  soil  is  in  any  way 
washed  off,  leaving  the  underlying  red  and  yellow  clayey  sand^ 
the  fertility  of  the  field  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 

Origin. — It  is  easy  to  see  the  manner  in  which  the  front  and 
back  land  have  been  formed.  Indeed  it  has  been  so  often  stated 
and  is  so  well  understood  that  a  very  brief  statement  will  suSice 
here.  When  the  water  flows  over  the  banks  in  time  of  high  water 
its  velocity  is  greatly  checked  and  it  deposits  its  heavier  sandy- 
material  on  the  immediate  banks  of  the  stream  ;  thus  forming; 
the  sandy  front  land.  The  waters  which  now  contains  only  the 
finest  sediment  passes  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  bottoms,  form- 
ing great  temporary  lakes.  Having  little  or  no  velocit3^  the 
water  is  unable  to  keep  even  this  very  fine  sediment  in  suspen- 
sion.    This  is  gradually  deposited,  forming  a  stiff  clay. 

In  times  of  high  floods  the  sedimentation  is  very  large.  Large 
areas  of  stiff  back  sand  are  often  sanded.  Thus,  in  the  flood  of 
1892  Cottonwood  bayou  covered  a  large  area  of  stiff  land  lying 
along  its  banks  with  sandy  material.  It  is  stated  that  in  places 
this  deposit  amounted  to  two  or  three  feet. 

The  formation  of  the  prairie  land  can  only  be  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. The  Eocene  Tertiary  of  northern  Louisiana  abounds  in 
little  bare  spots  caused  by  the  outcropping  of  unusually  calca- 
reous beds.  It  may  be  that  certain  layers  of  the  older  beds  in  the 
bottoms  contain  a  large  amount  of  calcareous  matter  and  are 
responsible  for  the  formation  of  these  spots.  The  section  given 
above  (p.  175)  shows  quite  a  calcareous  layer. 


ni]  Shreveport  Area  :    Water  Supply  179 

There  is,  however,  a  very  widespread  black  calcareous  layer 
through  the  bottoms,  which  contains  numerous  mussel  shells 
{Unio7iid(e) . 

It  may  be  after  the  partial  erosion  of  the  valle}',  in  which  island- 
like outliers  of  the  hill  land  were  left  above  the  surrounding 
bottoms,  that  a  period  of  marsh  or  swamp  conditions  ensued,  in 
which  the  water  plants  formed  a  peat-like  deposit  over  the  sandy 
clay.  A  slight  deepening  of  the  water  and  a  deposition  of  sedi- 
ment on  the  top  of  the  vegetable  matter  would  make  a  cozy  home 
for  the  Unios.  Here  they  lived  and  died  in  great  numbers.  On 
the  re-elevation  of  the  ground  and  the  decomposition  of  the  veg- 
etable matter  the  result  would  be  a  very  black  sandy  clay  with 
Unios. 

Water  Supply 

Sources  of  wafer. — Water  can  generally  be  obtained  in  the  front 
lands  at  a  depth  of  from  35  to  85  feet.  The  common  method 
employed  is  to  point  a  pipe  and  drive  until  water  is  reached. 
Water  obtained  from  this  la3'er  is  generelly  not  very  wholesome, 
containing  as  it  does  quite  an  amount  of  mineral  matter.  When 
used  in  boilers  it  ' '  scales  ' '  badly  and  on  Mr.  John  Sentell's  place 
"eats  out"  the  boiler  tubes.  He  has  succeeded  in  obtaining 
partial  relief  by  pumping  the  water  into  a  tank  and  exposing  it 
to  the  atmosphere  for  from  36  to  48  hours. 

Mr.  A.  L.  Pullin,  a  well  driller  at  Shreveport,  states  that  he 
has  succeeded  in  getting  ver}-  pure  water  from  a  soft  red  sand- 
stone at  depths  ranging  from  160  to  300  feet. 

General  sedioji  of  Red  river  wells  below  Shreveport. — Mr.  Pullin 
has  kindly  furnished  the  following  general  section  : 

General  Section  of  Red  River  Wells  below  Shreveport. 

1.  Red  soil,  sandy  loam 4-10    ft. 

2.  Red  clay  and  sand.   Waterbearing.   This  stratum 

is  claj^ey  above  and  becomes  more  sandy  below. 
The  lower  5-10  feet  is  a  quicksand.  This  layer 
is  the  source  of  the  highly  mineral  water  which 
is  obtained  in  the  driven  wells 45-60    ft. 

3.  Gravel  and  sand.     Quite  firmly  bedded,  so  much 

so  that  it  is  impossible  to  drive  a  well  into  it. 


i8o  Geological   Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

The  gravel  sometimes  reaches  the  size  of  a  goose 
&gg.  White  chert  and  quartz  pebbles  are  com- 
mon. The  gravel  is  largest  at  the  top  and 
gradually  grows  finer  until  at  the  base  of  the 
strata  it  grades  into  a  fine  white  sand 20-40    ft. 

4.  Soft  grsiy  sandy  clay  containing  vegetable  remains 

and  occasional  shells 8-16    ft. 

5.  Fine  white  sand 0-40    ft. 

6.  Hard  tenaceous  blue  cla)^  called  "  rubber  clay  " 

containing  scattered  iron  concretions  about  the 

size  of  a  pea 40-132  ft. 

7.  Indurate  red  sand,  water  bearing.     Furnishes  an 

abundance  of  soft  water. 

Water  from  this  stratum  generally  rises  to  with- 
in ten  feet  of  the  surface. 
None  of  these  deep  wells  were  personally  examined  nor  was  I 
able  to  obtain  any  shells  from  layer  4.  It  can  hardlj^  be  doubted, 
from  the  general  character  of  the  material,  that  the  water  is 
from  the  older  Tertiary  strata.  The  presence  of  large  gravel  beds 
in  the  river  valley  is  also  to  be  specially  noticed  for  no  gravels  of 
northern  origin  have  yet  been  found  on  the  hills  west  of  the 
Black  bayou  and  Baj^ou  Dauchite  gravel  trains. 

WeH  at  Lotus  Landing,  Robson  P.  O. — At  the  time  of  the 
writer's  visit  Mr.  Pullin  had  just  finished  a  well  on  the  place  of 
Capt.  Robson  at  Lotus  Landing,  in  16  N.,  12  W.  from  which  he 
had  a  large  suite  of  gravel  specimens. 

Well  Section  on  Capt.  Robsoti's  Plantation  {16  N.  12  W.). 

Thickness 

Red  sandy  loam 4  ft.  o  in. 

Fine  red  clay  with  sand 75  ft.  o  in. 

Red  sand,  water  bearing 3  ft.  o  in. 

Gravel  and  sand,  same  as  3  in  fore- 
going section 24  ft.  o  in. 

Organic    clay  with  shells 12  ft.  o  in. 

Brown  lignite 3  ft.  o  in. 

Good  black  lignite 2  ft.  o  in. 

"Soapstone,"  soft  white  friable  clay.     7  ft.  o  in. 
\''erv  hard  blue  limestone o  ft.  8  in. 


No. 

Depth 

I. 

0-     4 

2. 

4-  79 

3- 

79-  82 

4- 

82-106 

5- 

io5-ii8 

6. 

I 18-121 

7- 

121-123 

8. 

123-130 

9- 

130-131 

Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :  Physiography  i8i 

10.  131-135     Hard  black  lignite 4  ft.  3  in. 

1 1 .  135-225     Blue  clay 90  ft.  o  in. 

12.  225-  Water  in  sand,  not  passed  through. 

Any  separation  of  this  section  in  beds  of  different  ages  must 
be  necessarily  a  mere  guess.  It  will  be  quite  necessary  to  have 
good  samples  from  each  of  the  different  layers  in  order  to  arrive 
at  even  a  partially  satisfactory  conclusion.  The  section  is, 
however,  quite  suggestive.  Layers  2  and  3  may  represent  the 
Port  Hudson  of  Hilgard.  Layer  4  suggests  the  Lafayette  or 
Orange  sand,  whatever  that  name  may  really  mean,  and  the 
lowest  part  seems  to  be  older  Kocene  Tertiary. 

Physiography  of  the  Bottoms 
Waterfali^s  and  Rapids 

Descriptio7i. — It  is  a  decidedly  interesting  thing  to  find  in  the 
midst  of  an  old,  well  developed,  river  flood-plain,  waterfalls  and 
rapids.  Several  were  seen  in  upper  Caddo  bottoms  and  there 
are  doubtless  others  in  localities  which  have  not  been  examined. 

The  most  perfect  waterfall  seen  was  at  the  outlet  of  Silver 
lake  just  below  Coushatta  bluffs.  The  waterfall  is  about  ten 
feet  high  and  is  at  the  head  of  a  little  gorge  probably  300  yards 
from  the  river.  The  crest  of  the  waterfall  is  composed  of  hard 
bluish-gray  and  red  sandy  clays. 

Collins  describes  a  waterfall  formed  by  the  water  flowing  over 
a  hard  clay  layer  underlaid  by  sand,  in  a  channel  accross  the  old 
Hamilton  fields  from  Dooley's  bayou  to  Old  Red  bayou.*  There 
are  also  rapids  in  the  main  Dooley's  bayou  channel,  about  a 
mile  above  its  entrance  to  Old  Red  bayou  where  the  water  flows 
over  a  layer  of  hard  clay.  This  is  sometimes  called  "  Dooley's 
Falls." 

We  have  before  spoken  of  the  rapid  current  at  Big 
Willow  pass  and  the  rapids  and  small  waterfall  at  Albany  flats. 
These  are,  of  course,  not  noticeable  in  very  high  water  when  the 
inequality  is  not  enough  to  effect  the  large  volume  of  water 
greatly  but  in  moderate  stages  they  are  very  marked. 


*43d  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  658. 


1 82  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

There  are  very  marked  rapids  in  Bowman's  chute,  just  above 
where  it  joins  Middle  bayou  and  the  "Ditch"  forming  Cross 
bayou. 

Formatioyi  of  waterfalls  and  rapids. — During  the  raft  period 
many  of  the  old  stream  channels  were  covered  by  lakes.  The 
sediment  deposited  in  these  lakes  often  more  than  filled  parts  of 
the  old  channels  so  that  after  the  removal  of  the  raft  and  the 
partial  drainage  of  the  lakes  the  streams  were  forced  to  cut  new 
channels.  It  would  sometimes  happen  that  a  stream  thus  forced 
out  of  its  channel  would  find  itself  superimposed  on  the  older 
blue  clays  or  on  projecting  points  of  the  adjoining  Eocene  clays. 
Such  a  stream  may,  in  its  course,  find  its  way  back  into  a  portion 
of  the  old  stream  bed  which  has  not  been  filled.  The  fall  thus 
developed  on  the  bank  of  the  former  stream  will  wear  rapidly 
back  through  the  alluvium  till  the  face  of  the  blue  clay  is 
reached.  At  this  point,  if  there  is  a  layer  of  harder  clay  under- 
laid by  softer  material,  the  waterfall  will  maintain  itself  and 
gradually  wear  back  until  the  lake  formed  by  the  daming  of  the 
old  stream  channel  is  reached.  If  the  clay  is  a  uniform  mass 
the  face  of  the  falls  will  be  worn  off  and  rapids  produced. 

In  this  region  the  same  result  could  be  produced  without  the 
formation  of  a  waterfall  by  the  tumbling  of  the  stream  over  the 
old  stream  bank.  If  the  old  channel  has  been  completely  filled 
the  water  will  flow  in  the  lowest  part  of  the  adjacent  land ;  part 
of  its  bed  being  of  alluvial  material  and  part  possibly  of  the 
older  clays.  As  the  river  erodes  its  channel  the  side  streams 
would  tend  to  do  likewise  and  would  soon  cut  ample  channels 
through  the  alluvium  lying  between  the  older  clays  and  the 
river,  leaving  the  less  easily  eroded  clays  to  form  rapids  and 
waterfalls  in  the  channel. 

In  the  case  of  the  rapids  at  Albany  flats  the  ancient  channel 
was  evidently  to  the  north  of  the  present  channel.  This  old 
channel  was  filled  with  sediment  brought  down  by  the  outlet 
bayous.  When  the  raft  was  removed  the  stream  occupied  the 
lowest  land,  which,  since  the  greater  part  of  the  filling  was  on 
the  northern  side  of  vSodo  lake,  was  along  the  base  of  the  hills. 
Here  the  stream  found  hard  blue  Eocene  clays.  The  rapid  erosion 
of  the  alluvial  material  between  these  clays  and  the  river  left  them 


ni]  Shrbveport  Area:  Lakes  183 

to  form  rapids  in  the  channel.  The  rapids  are  gradually  wear- 
ing backward  and  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  Caddo  parish 
will  be  the  richer  by  a  number  of  acres  of  good  land  where 
there  is  now  a  lake. 

It  is  believed  that  the  ancient  channel  at  Big  Willow  pass  is 
also  to  the  north  and  that  the  blue  clay  will  finally,  after  the 
Albany  rapids  have  worn  out  and  drained  Sodo  lake,  wear  back 
and  drain  Ferry  lake. 

The  rapids  on  Bowman's  chute  are  of  exactly  the  same  type, 
were  formed  in  the  same  way  and  will  have  same  life  history. 

The  falls  at  Dooley's  bayou  are  slightly  different  from  those 
just  described.  It  seems  that  as  the  raft  advanced  up  the  river 
the  little  ditch  which  drained  the  old  Dooley's  swamp  offered  a 
good  outlet  channel ;  water  rushed  through  it  and  tumbled  over 
the  bank  of  Old  Red  bayou.  The  falls  thus  formed  wore  back 
until  the  blue  clay  was  reached  when  a  rapids  was  produced. 
A  portion  of  the  water  turned  over  the  old  Hamilton  fields  and 
fell  into  Old  Red  bayou.  Here  there  was  a  layer  of  hard  clay 
underlaid  by  softer  clay,  the  exact  conditions  for  a  typical  water- 
fall, and  as  the  under  sand  washed  out  portions  of  the  clay  strata 
broke  off,  thus  maintaining  a  perpendicular  fall. 

At  Silver  lake  the  old  channel  was  to  the  south  of  the  present 
outlet.  The  filling  of  this  resulted  in  the  tumbling  of  the  water 
over  the  bank  at  a  place  occupied  by  a  projecting  point  of  the 
Eocene  clays.  A  waterfall  resulted  whose  height  has  been 
increased  by  the  deepening  of  the  main  channel  of  the  river. 
The  fall  is  wearing  back  by  the  removal  of  the  lower  layers  by 
the  water  and  the  caving  off  of  the  upper  strata  and  will  soon 
reach  and  destroy  Silver  lake. 

Origin  of  Bottom  I^akes 

Classes. — With  reference  to  origin,  there  seems  to  be  three 
types  of  lakes  in  the  bottoms,  viz.  : 

1.  Cut-off  lakes. 

2.  Lakes  of  enclosure. 

3.  Raft  lakes.  , 

Cut-off  or  Horseshoe  lakes. — Lakes  of  this  type  are  not  well 
developed  in  this  part  of  the  valley,   not  nearly  so  well  as  they 


184  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect- 

are  in  the  lower  Red  river  valley.  The  most  perfect  example  is 
Moon  lake  or  Old  River  lake,  east  of  Oven  bayou,  on  the  line 
between  19  N.  and  20  N.  A  river  in  an  alluvial  flood  plain  is 
constantly  cutting  the  banks  on  the  outside  and  filling  on  the 
inside  of  the  bends.  When  two  parts  of  a  great  bend  approach 
near  each  other  the  intervening  neck  will  be  cut  through  in  a 
freshet,  forming  a  cut-off.  The  connections  between  the  river 
and  the  portions  of  the  river  cut-off  will  gradually  become  filled 
with  sand-bars  and  in  time  entirely  separated  from  the  river.  As 
the  river  travels  across  the  valley  the  lake  thus  formed  may 
be  left  several  miles  from  the  river.  Several  such  cut-offs  have 
been  formed  in  this  region,  with  a  little  help  from  man,  in  the  last 
fifty  years.  Near  Hurricane  bluffs  is  the  Shreve  cut-off  of  1837. 
Benjamin's  cut-off  near  Willow  chute,  and  the  Hotchkiss  cut-off 
above  Shreveport,  have  been  formed  in  this  way. 

Lakes  of  iyiclosiire. — The  second  type  of  lakes  is  quite  com- 
mon. They  owe  their  origin  to  the  formation  of  natural  levees 
by  the  river.  Along  the  east  bank  of  the  river  this  is  well 
exemplified,  where  the  river  strikes  the  hills  and  then  makes 
three  great  loops  far  out  into  the  bottoms.  In  these  loops,  mini- 
ature bottom  basins  are  formed  ;  the  hills  forming  one  side  and 
the  elevated  land  along  the  banks  of  the  river  the  others.  In 
these  basins  water  collects  forming  little  lakes.  To  this  type 
belong  Adger's  lake,  Marks'  lake,  Dutch  John's  lake  and  a  little 
lake  on  Black  Lake  bayou  in  Sec.  12  and  13,  22  N.,  15  W. 

A  similar  little  lake  may  be  formed  entirely  by  the  river  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  bounding  hills.  In  a  great  ox-bow  bend 
where  there  is  in  one  place  only  a  very  narrow  neck  of  land 
between  two  parts  of  the  river  the  elevated  land  which  forms 
the  banks  of  the  river  will  extend  entirely  across  the  neck, 
forming  in  the  interior  of  the  bend  a  complete  basin.  Water 
accumulates  in  these  depressions  forming  lakes.  On  plate  14^ 
lakes  of  this  type  are  shown  in  the  center  of  the  bend  at  Hurri- 
cane bluffs  and  in  the  old  bend  at  the  Willow  chute  outlet.  A 
similar  lake  of  inclosure  is  found  near  Blake  Lake  bayou  in  Sec. 
14,  22  N.,  15  W. 

There  is  still  another  way  in  which  a  lake  may  be  formed  by 
inclosure.     Not   only  has  the  river  built   its  banks  up  higher 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area:  Lakes  185 

than  the  surrounding  land  but  each  little  bayou  has  done  like- 
wise. Thus  a  basin  is  formed  in  the  inter-bayou  space.  The 
old  Dooley  bayou  swamp  and  the  now  filled  Simpson's  lake 
probably  occupied  such  depressions.  Old  Swan  lake  just  above 
Shreveport,  between  Twelve  Mile  bayou  and  the  river  was  of 
this  type. 

Raft  lakes. — The  origin  of  lakes  of  this  type  has  already  been 
discussed  under  the  headings  ' '  Growth  of  the  Raft ' '  and 
"  Changes  due  to  the  Formation  of  the  Raft  "  and  Ferry,  Sodo 
and  Cross  lakes  were  referred  to  this  type.  It  remains,  how- 
ever, to  call  attention  to  the  similarity  in  position  and  origin  of 
these  lakes  to  the  other  large  lakes  of  Red  River  valley  ;  to  give 
the  traditions  and  historical  data  we  possess  regarding  them  and 
to  give  some  other  theories  which  have  been  advanced  to  account 
for  them. 

A  reference  to  a  good  map  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  will  show 
lakes  which  are  the  exact  counterpart  of  Cross  lake  and  Sodo 
lake  all  along  the  river  valley  below  the  Arkansas  line.  Those 
which  have  been  clearly  formed  by  the  drowning  of  old  stream 
valleys  and  which  belong  to  the  same  type  as  Cross  and  Ferry 
lakes  are  :  Lake  Bodcau,  Wallace  lake,  Lake  Bistineau,  Black 
lake,  Saline  lake,  Spanish  lake,  Lake  Terre  Noir,  Lake  Nan- 
taches  and  Lake  latt.  There  are  also  several  which  have  been 
formed  in  bottom  basins  like  Sodo  lake.  The  two  most  pro- 
nounced of  these  are.  Lake  Cannisnia  and  the  lower  part  of 
Bayou  Pierre  lake.  They  are  so  alike  in  their  general  features 
and  occupy  such  analogous  positions  that  any  theory  accounting 
for  the  origin  of  one  must,  in  general,  cover  the  origin  of  all. 

Of  the  recent  origin  of  the  lakes  in  the  upper  part  of  the  val- 
ley there  can  be  little  question.  A  number  of  planters  of  Red 
river  bottoms  have  repeated  to  me  the  old  Caddo  Indian  tradition 
that  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  land  now  occu- 
pied by  Sodo  lake  was  an  oak  ridge,  that  all  the  water  flowed  in 
a  narrow  cypress-fringed  bayou  in  the  center  and  that  the  filling 
of  the  valley  was  sudden,  as  if  by  an  earthquake. 

Collins  evidently  heard  much  the  same  story,  which  he  states 
in  this  way  :  "  Mr.  Josey,  living  at  Swanson's  landing,  who  is 
probably  the  most  intelligent  man  in  the  vicinity,  thinks  there 


1 86  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

was  a  general  subsidence  of  a  very  large  tract,  including  the 
bluffs  as  well  as  the  bottoms,  and  that  it  took  place  since  the 
removal  of  the  Caddo  Indians.  He  says,  that  a  few  years  ago, 
when  a  few  of  the  Caddo  Indians  came  back  to  visit  the  country 
they  told  him  that  they  used  to  cultivate  cornfields  on  land 
adjoining  these  oak  and  pine  stumps,  and  now  covered  with 
water  to  the  same  depth,  and  that  the  entire  country  was  above 
overflow."*  The  statement  of  the  Indians  is  in  part  substanti- 
ated by  a  group  of  mounds  in  Sec.  5,  19  N.,  14  W.  A  compari- 
son of  the  two  maps  accompanying  this  report  will  show  that  the 
site  of  these  mounds  was  covered  by  Sodo  lake  during  the  raft 
period. 

Dr.  Joseph  Paxton,  in  a  letter  written  in  1828,  gives  a  similar 
account  of  Bodcau  lake.  He  says:  "  Bodcaw  prairie  is  repre- 
sented to  have  been  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  thirty  years  since 
was  the  resort  of  immense  herds  of  buffaloes.  It  is  now  a  stag- 
nant lake."t  These  statements,  together  with  very  positive 
evidence  furnished  by  the  only  partially  decayed  trees  in  Ferry 
lake  shows  a  very  sudden  and  recent  origin  of  these  lakes. 

The  most  common  theory  of  the  origin  of  these  lakes  is  that 
they  were  formed  by  the  sudden  lowering  of  a  portion  of  land  by 
earthquakes  ;  in  a  similar  way  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  Sunk 
lands  of  the  St.  Francis  basin  and  Reelfoot  lake  near  New 
Madrid,  Mo.,  which  were  formed  by  the  earthquake  of  1811-12. 
Lyell,  in  his  Principles  of  Geology,  nth  edition,  vol.  i,  page 
452,  after  quoting  Darby's  statement  that  the  lakes  have  been 
formed  by  the  damming  of  the  mouths  of  the  tributary  stream 
valleys  with  the  Red  river  alluvium,  suggests  that  they  owe  their 
origin  in  part  to  earthquake  action.  Lyell  had  just  visited  the 
sunk  region  about  New  Madrid,  and  was  greatly  impressed  with 
the  phenomena  there  shown. 

There  are  several  reasons  for  believing  that  the  lakes  do  not 
owe  their  origin  to  earthquakes.  Probably  the  most  satisfactory 
are  the  results  obtained  in  the  borings  made  by  the  Cypress 
bayou  survey  in  1892  under  the  direction  of  Capt.  Willard.     Of 

*43d  Cong.  1st  Sess.  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  pp.  658-659,  1873  J 
An.  Rept.  Chief  Eng.  for  1873,  pp.  658-659. 

t  20th  Cong.  2d  Sess.  Senate  Doc,  vol.  i.  No.  78.  p.  10,  1829. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :  Lakes  187 

the  results  of  these  borings  Capt.  Willard  says  :  "  The  borings 
also  disprove  the  notion  that  these  lakes  were  formed  by  the 
same  convulsion  that  made  those  at  New  Madrid,  the  strata 
plainly  being  water  deposits  without  contortions  that  the 
upheaval  or  sinking  would  produce,  and  the  oak  stumps  as  well  as 
the  cypress  are  everywhere  found  vertical."*  The  second  reason 
is  that  a  theory  of  origin  similar  to  the  New  Madrid  lakes  will 
hardly  account  for  the  peculiar  positions  of  these  lakes.  Lakes 
of  the  type  of  Sodo  lake  and  lake  Cannisnia  might  be  produced 
by  the  sinking  of  an  area  of  land  in  the  bottoms  by  earthquake 
action,  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  would  be  a  most  peculiar 
earthquake  or  series  of  earthquakes  which  would  drop  the  bot- 
tom out  of  every  large  valley  entering  Red  river  valley,  or  which 
would  raise  the  land  at  just  the  points  where  these  valleys  enter 
the  river  valley.  This  drives  us  to  the  supposition  that  the  sub- 
sidence was  not  local  but  extended  over  the  whole  valley  ; 
effecting  the  hills  and  bottoms  alike .  Such  a  movement  is  different 
from  the  local  subsidences  in  the  bottoms  produced  by  the  earth- 
quake at  New  Madrid.  A  general  movement  of  this  kind  over  a 
large  area  is  more  likely  to  be  produced  by  slow  crustal  move- 
ments than  by  an  earthquake. 

A  general  subsidence  of  this  kind  is  capable  of  producing  such 
lakes.  As  the  subsidences  progresses,  the  river  wdll  commence 
building  up  its  channel  and  banks  in  an  effort  to  regain  its  base- 
level.  If  this  movement  is  rapid.  Red  river  with  it  great  amount 
of  sediment  will  build  up  its  bed  much  faster  than  the  less  muddy 
tributaries.  This  will  result  in  the  elevation  of  the  river  above 
the  tributary  streams  and  the  consequent  ponding  of  the  water 
in  their  valle^^s. 

The  fact  that  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  southern 
part  of  the  United  States  is  sinking  f  seems  to  corroborate  this 
theory,  but  other  facts,  at  hand,  do  not  sustain  it.     If  such  a 


*  An.  Rep.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1893,  p.  2069,  1893. 

t  This  evidence  consists  in  the  estuary  character  of  the  mouths  of  the 
majority  of  Gulf  rivers  ;  the  great  depths  of  some  of  the  costal  rivers  ;  the 
observations  of  Maj.  J.  B.  Quinn  of  the  U.  S.  Engineers,  and  the  buried 
shell  heaps  on  the  coast.  See  Five  Island  article  and  Geol,  Surv.  of  Ala,, 
1894,  pp.  45-47- 


1 88  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

subsidence  is  going  on  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  the  line  of 
maximum  depression  should  follow  the  Red  river  valley,  and  if 
it  extends  over  a  large  area  all  the  streams  of  that  area  should  be 
affected  alike.  That  is,  we  would  look  for  lakes  of  the  same  type 
along  the  valleys  of  the  Brazos,  the  Trinity,  the  Sabine  and  the 
Ouachita  and  especially  along  the  Arkansas,  which  in  point  of 
size  and  amount  of  sediment  it  carries,  fully  equals  the  Red. 
Lakes  should  also  be  found  in  Red  river  valley  above  the  region 
effected  by  the  raft.  No  lakes  like  Ferry,  Cross  or  Bistineau 
lakes  are  found. 

This  seems  to  leave  only  the  theory  of  the  raft  formation  of 
these  lakes.  This  theory  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  known 
formation  of  a  large  lake  similar  to  Sodo  lake  just  below  Miller's 
bluffs  by  the  closing  of  the  outlet  bayou  by  the  raft.  Then  there 
is  the  simi-historical  account  of  the  formation  of  Sodo  lake  proven 
as  it  is  by  the  old  tree  stumps  and  the  Indian  mounds.  This 
theor>^,  however,  requires  that  the  lakes  be  drained  on  the 
removal  of  the  raft.  This  has  not  been  fully  accomplished, 
although  a  large  part  of  the  lake  area  has  been  drained.  There 
are  several  possible  reasons  why  the  drainage  has  not  been  com- 
pleted at  the  present  time  :  (i)  the  river  may  not  as  yet  have 
succeeded  in  cutting  out  all  the  material  deposited  in  the  channel 
during  the  raft  period,  (2)  many  of  the  streams  have  been  super- 
imposed on  older  clays  by  the  filling  of  their  old  channels  and 
have  not  yet  had  time  to  cut  new  channels  to  as  low  a  level  as  the 
old  channels. 

If,  as  now  seems  probable,  the  lakes  owe  their  formation  to 
the  raft,  it  is  possible  to  approximate  the  date  of  the  forma- 
tion of  Cross  and  Ferry  lakes.  The  distance,  counting  the  old 
stream  detours,  from  Cross  lake  outlet  to  the  head  of  the  Shreve 
raft  in  1838,  is  49  miles.  If  four-fifths  of  a  mile  represents  the 
normal  rate  of  advance  of  the  raft,  about  61  years  had  elapsed  in 
1838,  since  the  closing  of  Cross  lake  bayou  by  the  raft.  This 
would  make  the  date  of  the  formation  of  these  lakes  about  1777. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area:  Uplands  189 

Notes  on  the  Geology  of  the  Hill-lands  * 
The  Upland  Flats  + 

General  characters. — The  point  of  land  between  Ferry  lake,  Clear 
lake,  James  ba^^ou  and  the  dotted  line  on  plate  16  shows  a  marked 
topographical  difference  from  the  land  north  of  it  and  from  the 
land  on  the  south  side  of  Ferr}^  lake.  The  country  in  the  last 
two  mentioned  localities  is  hilly  and  has  fairh'  mature  stream 
valleys.  The  area  under  discussion,  although  from  30  to  40  feet 
above  the  adjacent  drainage  systems,  has  no  well  developed 
stream  valleys.  The  water  finding  no  outlet  forms  little  swamps 
between  the  little  mounds  or  hillocks  with  which  the  country  is 
covered.  These  mounds  are  nearh^  circular  and  range  from  20 
to  80  feet  in  diameter  and  are  from  2  to  6  feet  in  height.  The 
composition  of  these  mounds  is  quite  different  from  that  of  the 
intermound  spaces,  being  a  moderately  fertile  sandy  loam,  while 
that  between  them  is  a  poor  stiff  gray  or  yellowish  gray 
clay,  commonly  called  ' '  post-oak  clay. ' '  The  intermound  spaces 
are  filled  with  water ,  forming  little  puddles  and  supporting  a  growth 
of  swamp  or  pin-oak  and  post-oak.  The  mounds  are  covered 
with  post-oak  and  short  leaved  pine.  Under  the  ' '  post-oak  clay' ' 
at  depths  var>4ng  from  a  few  inches  to  several  feet,  is  a  hard  red 
clay.     This  is  exposed  o\Ay  in  the  occasional  gullies. 

The  distribution  of  these  upland  flats  is  quite  extensive  in  this 
part  of  Louisiana.  The}^  are  well  developed  just  north  of  Wal- 
lace lake.  In  Bossier  parish  they  occupy  a  strip  of  land  between 
Carolina  bluffs  and  Bodcau  lake  and  east  of  bayou  Bodcau  they 
extend  almost  to  Fillmore.  The  great  level  land  between  bayou 
Bodcau  and  bayou  Dauchite  in  northern  Webster,  may  belong  to 
the  same  class.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  piece  of  very  flat 
uplands,  j'^ounger  than  the  Eocene,  lying  between  bayou  Bodcau 
and  Red  river  in  northern  Louisiana  and  southern  Arkansas. 
In  this  upland  flat  there  are  two   island-like  masses  of  Lower 


*  As  the  main  part  of  the  work  was  in  the  bottoms,  only  occasional  oppor- 
tunities presented  themselves  for  examining  the  hill-lands. 

fLerch,  Bull.  La.  State  Exp.  Stations,  Geology  and  Agr.,  Part  2,  1893, 
p.  106. 


iQo  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

Claiborne  Eocene  ;  one  occupies  an  area  south  of  lake  Bodcau 
and  includes  Bellevue,  Fillmore  and  Haughton  ;  the  other  is  rep- 
resented by  the  red  lands  of  the  northern  Bossier. 

Well  sectio7is. — Only  very  shallow  wells  have  been  sunk  in  the 
upland  flats  and  of  these  we  have  only  very  incomplete  records. 
They,  however,  agree  in  finding  occasional  fresh  water  mussels 
{Unionida).  The  well  diggers  are  quite  positive  that  they  were 
exactly  like  the  shells  now  living  in  the  adjoining  lakes.  A  well 
in  the  S.  W.  )i  of  the  N.  E.  ]i  of  Sec.  i,  20  N.,  16  W.,  gave 
the  following  section  : 

Well  Section  S.  W.  %ofN.E.%,  Sec.  /,  20  N.,  16  W. 

1 .  0-4  Fine  loamy  sand 4  ft. 

2.  4-1 1  Yellow  and  gray  mottled  clay,  post-oak  clay. .  .      7  ft. 

3.  1 1-29  Red  clay  with  calcareous  concretions  in  lower 

part 18  ft. 

4.  29-46  Blue  mud  with    vegetable  matter  and   mussel 

shells 1 7  ft. 

5.  46-55  Fine  blue  sand,  not  passed  through 9  ft. 

A  well  digger  living  just  north  of  Wallace  lake  reported  that  in 

a  strip  of  country  about  two  miles  wide,  just  north  of  the  lake, 
he  had  found  ' '  mussel  shells  ' '  at  depths  from  1 8  to  30  feet  in  all 
but  two  wells.  Shells  were  very  abundant  in  a  well  on  the  Pat- 
terson place  in  the  N.  E.  ]i  of  N.  W.  }i  Sec.  34,  16  N.,  13  W. 
The  well  was  sunk  on  an  outlying  hill  45  feet  above  the  level  of 
of  Wallace  lake.  The  shells  were  found  at  a  depth  of  20  feet. 
In  a  well  sunk  on  the  I,ittle  place  a  great  many  shells  were  found 
between  25  and  30  feet.  The  old  dump  heap  at  the  Patterson 
place  was  examined  and  a  few  fragments  of  Lhiios  found.  As  it 
was  possible  for  these  to  have  been  scattered  there  since  the  dig- 
ging of  the  well  they  can  not  be  considered  conclusive. 

Colored  sands  a7id  clays. — Where  large  sections  of  these  beds 
are  to  be  seen  along  the  water  courses  very  heavy  beds  of  bril- 
liantly colored  sands  and  clays  with  calcareous  concretions  are  to 
be  seen.  This  is  especially  noticeable  near  Red  Chute  bridge  in 
Bossier  parish.  On  the  road,  which  is  about  50  feet  above  the 
bottoms,  from  Bellevue  to  the  bridge,  about  three  miles  from  the 
bridge  deep  red  clay  filled  with  lime    concretions  outcrop  in  the 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :  Uplands  191 

hillsides.  This  cla}^  is  markedly  different  from  the  red  clays  of 
the  Tertiar}^  to  the  east.  The  concretions  are  in  themselves  very 
distinctive  ;  these  light  red,  smooth,  rounded  claystone  masses 
are  entirely  distinct  from  the  red  ironstone  concretions  of  the 
old  Tertiary.  For  about  a  half  a  mile  east  of  the  bridge  the  clay  is 
overlaid  by  thick  beds  of  red  silty  sand.  Red  Chute  hill,  where 
the  road  descends  from  the  uplands  to  the  bottoms  is  about  50 
feet  high  and  the  washed  road  cut  shows  good  exposures.  It 
is  composed  entirely  of  fine  grained  red  sand  and  loam  with  a 
little  red  clay. 

An  exposure  of  these  sands  was  seen  at  Carolina  and  Hurricane 
bluffs.  Carolina  bluffs  are  composed  of  about  60  feet  of  light 
red  with  some  white  and  yellow,  cross  bedded-sands.  Lenticular 
masses  ot  red  clay  are  scattered  through  the  sands.  In  the 
upper  portion  of  the  hill  a  thick  bed  of  red  clay  is  overlaid,  for  a 
short  distance,  by  a  bed  of  gray  clay  two  feet  thick. 

The  red  concretionary  clay  outcrops  in  numerous  places  along 
the  north  side  of  Ferry  lake,  where  the  waves  have  washed  out 
the  concretions  and  formed  numerous  little  pebble  beaches.  It 
is  also  well  developed  along  the  north  shore  of  Cross  lake,  while 
the  southern  shore  shows  the  entirely  different  old  Tertiarj^  strata. 

The  first  cut  north  of  the  trestle  over  Lake  Wallace  exposes 
irregularly  bedded  white  and  red  sands  and  red  concretionary 
clays.  Weathered  surfaces  show  a  red  glaze  over  the  whole 
mass,  even  over  the  white  sands.  Little  or  no  clay  was  seen  in 
the  part  of  the  cut  immediately  adjacent  to  the  lake,  here  light 
colored  stratified  sands,  not  effected  by  dilute  hydrochloric  acid, 
are  covered  by  massive  brick  red  sand  about  four  feet  thick. 
Toward  the  northern  end  of  the  cut  the  calcareous  clays  and  fine 
sands  with  very  large  calcareous  concretions  become  very 
prominent. 

The  first  cut  south  of  the  trestle  (on  the  other  side  of  the 
lake)  consists  of  finely  laminated  gray  clay  with  sand  partings, 
overlaid  by  gra^dsh  yellow  sands  which  contain  lense-shaped 
masses  of  clay  which  have  evidently  been  derived  from  the  under- 
lying clays.  This  sand  contains  numerous  specimens  of  silici- 
fied  wood. 

Age  of  the  upland Jlais. — The  facts  at  hand  indicate  that  these 


192  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

beds  should  be  separated  from  the  adjacent  older  Tertiary- 
beds.  We  have  a  fresh  water  deposit  resembling  more  nearly 
the  recent  Red  river  deposit  than  anything  else  in  the  region, 
but  evidently  formed  under  different  conditions  and  occupying  a 
level  from  20  to  50  feet  above  the  present  bottoms.  So  far  as 
the  stratigraphy  of  the  State  is  known  these  beds  seem  to  be 
most  nearly  represented  by  the  Port  Hudson  deposits. 

This  conclusion  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  observations  of 
Hopkins  in  lower  Red  river  valley.  He  says:  "On  Dunbar's 
creek  the  equivalents  of  this  clay  (the  Port  Hudson)  form  the 
terraces  upon  Red  river,  if  the  calcareous  nodules  are  a  sure  guide. 
These  beds  partake  of  the  ferruginous  aspect  of  this  whole 
region,  and  are  so  intense  red  that  it  was  not  until  they  were 
traced  laterally  into  the  Mississippi  deposits  that  they  were  recog- 
nized as  belonging  to  this  group.  Examples  are  seen  on  the 
road  from  Avoyelles  to  Pineville,  at  the  falls  above  Alexandria, 
on  the  west  bank  of  Cane  river  in  Natchitoches  parish,  and  at 
Grapp's  bluff,  above  Campte.* 

Origin  of  the  mounds. — The  mounds,  which  have  been  noticed 
as  covering  the  Upland  Flats  are  by  no  means  confined  to  them. 
They  cover  large  portions  of  the  Tertiary  and  Quaternary 
deposits  of  Arkansas,  Louisiana  and  Texas.  In  Louisiana  they 
are  very  markedly  developed  in  the  region  under  discussion, 
around  Lake  Charles  and  in  the  Moorhouse  hills.  They  are  not 
confined  to  any  deposit  or  to  any  hypsometric  level.  Entirely 
absent  in  one  locality  they  are  quite  abundant  in  another. 

The  popular  interest  in  the  origin  of  these  mounds  is  very 
great  and  theories  of  their  origin  are  common.  An  old  darkey 
offered  the  following  explanation:  when  the  "Great  Massa  " 
made  this  earth  he  made  it  with  a  sieve  and  when  he  finished  the 
sifting  there  were  a  number  of  lumps  left  in  the  sieve.  These 
were  thrown  out  forming  the  mounds.  Another  explanation,  of 
a  similar  kind,  is  reported  to  have  been  given  by  the  Caddo 
Indians.  Their  legend  ran  that  many,  many_  years  ago  the 
country  was  inhabited  by  a  race  of  giants.  For  some  reason, 
which  the  legend  did  not  state,  the  giants  were  carrying  dirt  in 

'■•Third  Annual  Report  Louisiana  Geol.  Surv.  An.  Rept.  Supt.  La.  State 
University  for  1871,  1S72,  p.  187. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :  Uplands  193 

their  aprons  ;  when  the  dinner  horn  sounded  they  dropped  the 
dirt  where  they  stood  and  hurried  away  to  a  dinner  from  which 
they  never  returned. 

Some  of  the  theories  which  have  been  advanced  by  more  cul- 
tured people  are  but  a  step  removed  from  these.  Others  show 
considerable  thought.  The  following  theories  have  been 
advanced  bj^  scientists  : 

1.  Ant-hill  theory. 

2.  Wind  theory. 

3.  Water  volcano  theory. 

4.  Pressure  theory. 

5.  Gas  theory. 

6.  Indian  garden-mound  theory. 

7.  Current  theory. 

8.  Slow  erosion  theory. 

The  ant-hill  theory  was  suggested  by  Hilgard  in  his  Supple- 
mentary and  Final  Report  of  a  Geological  Reconnaissance  of 
the  State  of  Louisiana  p.  11;  it  holds  that  the  mounds  were 
made  by  a  large  species  of  ant,  which  for  some  reason  was 
entirely  destroyed  after  the  formation  of  the  mounds.  This 
theory  seems  to  greatly  tax  the  ants'  abilities.  A  similar  theory 
sometimes  heard  among  the  people  of  the  country,  is  that  the 
mounds  were  made  by  some  burrowing  animal. 

Clendenin  suggests  *  that  the  wind  theory  was  suggested  by 
emigrants  from  the  prairie  regions  of  the  northwest,  who  had 
seen  little  mounds  of  sand  or  dust  form  behind  little  obstructions 
during  a  wind  storm. 

Thomassy  conceived  the  idea  that  these  mounds  were  formed 
by  springs  or  "aqueous  volcanoes."  f 

So  far  as  we  know,  the  pressure  theory,  which  was  advanced  ;j: 
to  account  for  mud  lumps,  has  not  been  directlj^  applied  to  the 
similar  phenomena,  the  mounds.  It  holds  that  over  a  semifluid 
layer  of  quicksand  there  has  been  deposited  a  thick  layer  of 
tenaceous  clay.     The  weight  of  the  upper  clay  in  places  bulges 

*  Bull.  La.  State  Expt.  Stations  :  Geol.  and  Agr.  part  III,  p.  180. 
f  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,  Chap.  VIII,  New  Orleans,  i860. 
:}:  Lyell.   Principles  of  Geology,   loth  ed..   1868,  vol.  i,  p.  449,     Hilgard. 
A.  J.  S.   3d  series,  vol.  i,  1871,  p.  425. 


194  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

the  surface  of  the  ground  and  forces  out  some  of  the  underlying 
mud.  The  objection  to  this  theory  lies  in  the  great  range  of 
these  mounds  in  altitude  and  over  beds  of  different  ages. 

Scattered  through  all  the  beds  of  Louisiana,  from  the  lowest 
Teriiary  to  the  most  recent,  there  are  large  amounts  of  vegetable 
matter  mixed  with  beds  of  sands  and  clays.  The  decomposition 
of  this  vegetable  matter  forms  gas  and  if  this  gas  in  its  passage 
to  the  surface  passes  through  a  bed  of  sand  it  will  probably  carry 
to  the  surface  some  of  the  sand  and  so  form  a  little  mound.  Such 
cones  are  now  forming  near  the  sulphur  well  at  Lake  Charles  and 
formation  of  the  mudlumps  seems  to  be  very  analogous.  This 
theory  was  first  originated  for  the  mud-lumps  by  Siddell  *  and 
and  applied  to  the  mounds  by  Hopkins. f  Clendenin  supple- 
ments this  explanation  with  a  hypothetical  formation  of  the  gas 
vents  by  earthquakes.  The  theory  of  the  gas  origin  of  the 
mounds  seems  to  be  more  nearly  supported  by  the  observed  facts 
than  any  other  theory  yet  advanced.  But  the  exact  relation 
between  the  water  and  the  gas,  which  issue  from  the  mounds 
now  forming,  has  never  been  fully  worked  out.  It  may  be  that 
the  gas  merely  accompanies  the  water  instead  of  the  water 
accompanying  the  gas. 

The  Indian  garden-mound  theory  is  probably  one  of  the  most 
hypothetical  yet  adv^anced.  Nadaillac  in  his  Prehistoric  America, 
p.  182,  says:  "Between  Red  river  and  the  Wichita  they  (the 
Indian  garden-beds)  can  be  counted  by  thousands.  According 
to  Forshey,  who  described  them  to  the  New  Orleans  Academy  of 
Sciences,  these  embankments  cannot  have  served  as  the  founda- 
tions for  homes  of  men.  He  remarks  that  none  of  the  known 
burrowing  animals  execute  such  works,  whilst  hurricanes  could 
not  have  accumulated  materials  with  such  regularity.  He  added 
that  in  his  opinion  it  was  impossible  to  say  anything  definite 
with  regard  to  their  origin,  which  seemed  to  be  inexplicable. 
Other  archaeologists  are  more  positive  ;  they  consider  that  these 


*  Report  to  Capt.  Talcott,  1839,  in  Humphrey's  and  Abbott's  Report, 
Appendix  A. 

t  First  Annual  Report  of  the  La.  State  GeoL  Survey  in  An.  Rept.  Board 
of  Supervisors  of  the  La.  State  Seminary  for  Learning  and  Military  Acad- 
emy for  1869,  p.  82,  1870. 


in]  Shrbveport  Area  :  Mounds         195 

embankments  were  used  for  nothing  but  cultivation,  and  that 
they  are  intended  to  counteract  the  humidity  of  the  soil,  still  the 
greatest  obstacle  with  which  the  tillers  of  the  soil  of  the  plains  of 
the  Mississippi  valley  have  to  contend. 

The  last  two  theories  account  for  the  origin  of  the  mounds  by 
erosion  ;  the  first  by  a  rapid  rush  of  waters  ;  the  second  by  differ- 
ential erosion.*  Neither  seems  to  be  at  all  sustained  bj^  the  facts. 

The  Oi^der  Tertiary 

Previous  work. — A  number  of  geologists  have  done  work  on 
parts  of  the  older  Tertiary  which  border  the  bottom  lands  dis- 
cussed in  this  paper.  By  far  the  most  careful  and  detailed 
observations  on  the  bordering  hills  were  made  by  Mr.  H.  C. 
Collins,  one  of  Lieut.  Woodruff's  assistants  on  the  Red  River 
Raft  Survey  of  1871-1872.!  Although  not  a  professional 
geologist  or  a  man  who  had  had  much  geological  training,  his 
observations  have  great  value  as  being  a  concise  statement  of 
what  he  saw.  This  report  was  not  known  to  the  writer  while  he 
was  in  the  field  so  no  investigation  was  made  of  Collins' 
reported  find  of  the  Cretaceous  fossil,  ''Nautilus  dekayi  and 
another  fossil ' '  in  the  bluff  at  the  Cypress  brake  between 
Henderson's  Mills  and  Albany,  and  at  Irving's  bluff.  Prof. 
Harris  has  suggested  that  he  has  in  all  probability  mistaken 
Nautilus  dekayi  Mori.,  iox  Enclimatoceras  ulrichi  V^hiie,  and  that 
the  beds  are  probably  Midway  Eocene. 

Besides  Collins,  Hopkins,;);  Johnson, §  Lerch  |  and  Clendenin^ 

*  Brief  statements  of  this  latter  theory  are  given  by  David  Dale  Owen, 
Second  Report  of  a  Geol.  Reconnaissance  of  part  of  the  State  of  Arkansas, 
Phila.,  i860,  p.  144,  and  Otto  Lerch,  Bull.  La.  State  Expt.  Sta.,Geol.  and 
Agri.,  part  II,  1893,  p.  106. 

f  Geologic  Notes  of  Assistant  H.  C.  Collins.  An.  Rept. ,  Chief  of  Eng., 
for  1873,  vol.  I,  pp.  651-664,  1873  ;  also  43d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  vol.  2,  part  2, 
pp.  651-664,  1873. 

I  Second  An.  Rept.  of  the  Geol.  Snrv.  of  L,a.  by  F.  V.  Hopkins,  1871, 
pp.  9,  22.  Also  First  Annual  Report  of  the  Geol.  Survey  of  La.,  by  F.  V 
Hopkins,  pp.  86,  89,  1870. 

§  The  Iron  Regions  of  Northern  Louisiana  and  Eastern  Texas  by  L.  C„ 
Johnston.  5cth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  No.  195,  vol.  26,  pp.  17— 
19,  22,  34-37,  1888. 

I  A  Preliminary  Report  Upon  the  Hills  of  Louisiana,  North  of  the 
Vicksburg,  Shreveport  and  Pacific  Railroad,  by  Otto  Lerch.  Bull.  La. 
State  Ex.  Sta.;  Geol.  and  Agr.,  part  i,  1892,  pp.  18-19. 

Tf  W.  W.  Clendenin  spent  two  seasons  working  on  the  Geology  of  Caddo 
parish  but  published  no  report. 


196  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

have  touched  this  region  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  latter, 
the  work  was  of  an  extremely  hasty  reconnaissance  character  and 
our  knowledge  of  the  country  is  very  meagre.  Vaughan  has 
republished  Johnson's  Slaughter  Pen  Bluff  section  but  does  not 
seem  to  have  visited  the  locality.*  It  is  with  a  hope  of  adding 
something  to  this  meagre  information  that  the  facts  on  the  old 
Tertiary  which  the  writer  was  incidentally  able  to  collect,  while 
working  on  the  bottoms,  are  published.  What  is  needed  is  a 
very  careful  examination  of  the  northern  Caddo  hill-lands  ;  it 
has  been  a  guessing  ground  for  quite  a  number  of  years. 

Slaughter  Pen  bluff  section. — This  section,  which  is  on  Cross 
bayou  just  above  the  water-works,  has  been  examined  by  both 
Johnson  and  L,erch  and  as  has  been  stated  above,  Johnson's 
section  has  been  republished  by  Vaughan.  Johnson  considered 
it  a  part  of  Hilgard's  Mansfield  series,  the  major  part  of  which 
is  now  known  to  be  Lignitie  Eocene  ;  Lerch  referred  it  to  his 
lower  lyignitic,  which  is  in  part  equivalent  to  the  Lignitic  and 
in  part  to  the  IvOwer  Claiborne.  Vaughan  suggests  that  it  is 
probably  Lignitic. 

The  discovery  of  a  small  A/act?-a  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
bluff  and  the  general  resemblance  of  this  species  and  the  litho- 
logical  character  of  the  material  to  Buhrstone  outcrops  in 
Alabama  on  the  Alabama  river  has  led  Prof.  Harris  to  suspect 
that  it  may  be  eventually  classed  as  Lower  Claiborne.  The 
section  here  exposed  is  : 

Section  at  Slaughter  Pen  Bluff,  Shreveport. 

(Plate  18.) 

9.     Yellow  claj'  with   plates  of  calcareous  matter  grading  above 

into  red  soil 6  ft. 

8.     Graj'  calcareous  concretions 2  ft. 

7.     Grayish  and  yellow  sandy  clay  with  leaves  and  shells.  .    5  ft. 
6.      Fine  lamellae  of  brown  clay  and  yellowish  gray   sand 

with  reddish  iron  nodules 5  ft. 

5.     Same    as    No    6  but  without  iron  nodules.      Contains 

large  log  of  silicified  wood 6  ft. 

4.     Dark  drab  clay 2  ft. 

*  Am.    Geol.,    vol.    15,      1895,   p.     205;     also   Bull.     U.     S.    Geol.  Surv., 
No.  142,  1896. 


Ill] 


Shreveport  Area  :    Tertiary 


197 


i-^^X 


iS-5 


■■'■'  t:i  '^ 

S-og 
*  s  > 
S  rt  ^ 

—   O  lU 


"3  ^ 


XC:^ 


-5  ^  ^■ 


:^_ 


.    ^  o 


^ 


^ 


>^  1-  S  ffl 


3.     Lignite   2  ft. 

2.     Gray  and  yellow  sand  with  fine 

blue  clay  layers.    Leaves..    3  ft. 
I .     Gray  and  yellow,  more  and  less 
laminated  sand  with  thin  la- 
mellae of  blue  clay  to  water 

level 13  ft. 

In  a  gully  about  one-fourth  of  a  mile 
south  of  the  Slaughter  Pen  bluff  twenty 
feet  of  gray  or  bluish  gray  laminated 
clays  overlaid  by  15  feet  of  stratified 
yellow  clays  are  exposed.  The  gray 
clays,  like  the  yellow  clays  at  the  top  of 
the  Slaughter  Pen  bluff  section,  contain 
thin  plates  of  calcareous  matter.  The 
lower  clays  show  several  streaks  of  dark 
lignitic  clay  two  to  eight  inches  thick. 
This  seems  to  represent  the  upper  part 
of  Johnson's  section. 

About  two  hundred  yards  south  of  the 
section  shown  in  the  photograph  there 
is  a  small  but  extremely  distinct  fault 
in  the  lignite  layer.  It  is  probably  due 
to  local  earth  shocks.  The  fault  shows 
one  rather  peculiar  feature,  the  down- 
ward displacement  of  a  portion  of  the 
lower  lignite  along  the  fault  line. 
Normally  this  should  turn  up  instead 
of  down.  Its  present  shape  could  be 
produced  by  a  double  movement  along 
the  fault  line,  that  is  a  movement  down- 
ward and  then  a  movement  upward. 
If  the  fault  at  its  formation  gaped  open 
slightly  the  layers  in  the  overhanging 
portion  would  gradually  settle  down 
producing  the  appearance  shown  in  the 
figure. 


1 98  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

Kansas  City,  Pittsburg  ajid  GjiI/  Railroad  cut  south  of  Cross  Lake 
bridge. — The  large  cut  on  the  Kansas  City,  Pittsburg  and  Gulf 
Railroad  about  midway  between  the  Cross  lake  bridge  and  the 
railroad  shops  shows  a  very  peculiar  collection  of  great  rolled 
clay  boulders  in  a  gray  and  brown  sand.  Near  the  northern  end 
of  the  cut  are  about  eight  feet  of  interstratified  orange,  yellow, 
gray  and  brown  sands  and  chocolate  colored  clays.  The  clay 
strata  are  quite  thin  not  over  two  inches  thick  in  any  case 
(layer  A,  fig.  5).  The  layer  just  above  this,  B,  is  a  very  black 
lignitic  clay.  As  this  approaches  the  fault  line  it  becomes  lighter 
and  grades  into  a  brown  sand. 

This  fault  only  extends  half  way  to  the  surface.  The  dis- 
turbance along  the  fault  line  increases  toward  the  bottom  where 
the  layers  are  much  crumpled  and  broken  up.  Laj^er  D  is  made 
up  entirely  of  grayish  yellow  sand  with  thin  pastings  of  blue 
clay.  In  this  are  the  large  concretionary  masses  of  calcareous 
sandstone  which  are  so  well  developed  in  the  first  cut  to  the 
south  and  indeed  in  all  the  region  about  Shreveport. 

The  southern  end  of  the  cut  is  composed  of  blue  clay 
boulders  scattered  through  a  gray  and  brown  sand.  These 
masses  of  blue  clay  are  rounded  and  the  stratification  lines  lie  in 
every  direction.  Some  are  of  large  size  several  measuring  25 
by  15  inches.  The  outer  portions  of  this  clay  show  a  rim  of 
yellow  clay  an  inch  thick,  which  has  been  produced  by  oxida- 
tion. Many  of  the  clay  pebbles  have  coats  of  iron  oxide. 
Through  the  mass  are  often  beds  of  sand,  one  very  noticeable 
one,  G,  extends  diagonally  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the 
cut.     Through  it  are  scattered  very  small  clay  pebbles. 

These  blue  clay  gravels  are  shown  also  in  some  of  the  cuts 
between  this  cut  and  the  lake.  They  are  also  exposed  in  the 
road  side  a  little  east  of  Jewella. 

It  is  diffcult  to  conceive  the  exact  conditions  under  which  these 
large  clay  bowlder  were  fashioned  out  and  transported  to  this 
place.  Vaughan  describes  an  almost  identical  exposure  contain- 
ing large  clay  bowlders  at  Port  Caddo,  Texas,  and  concludes  that 
it  represents  a  local  unconformity  of  Eocene  age.*  If  the  beds 
at  Slaughter  Pen  bluff  are  of  Lower  Claiborne   age  the   uncon- 

*  Am.  Geol.,  vol.  16,  1895,  pp.  304-308. 


Ill]  Shrveport  Area  :    Tertiary  199 

formity  was  formed  in  the  early  part  of  the  l,ower  Claiborue 
stage.  This  conclusion  is  strengthened  by  a  greatly  disarranged 
exposure  seen  in  a  railroad  cut  about  four  miles  south  of  Many. 
Here  the  disturbed  material,  which  contains  lyOwer  Claiborne 
fossils,  lies  between  undisturbed  fossiliferous  Lower  Clairborne 
beds  and  fossiliferous  lyignitic  beds. 

Sa?ids. — There  are  few  facts  bearing  on  the  age  of  the  upper 
yellow  and  red  sands  about  Shreveport  and  in  the  absence  of  the 
same  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  considering  them  separate 
from  the  lower  Tertiary  beds.  The  sand  beds  ai'e  well  developed 
on  the  Spring  tract  east  of  the  City  park.  In  the  street  car  cut 
they  are  seen  underlying  horizontally  stratified  gray  clays  con- 
taining good  leaf  impressions.  Very  similar  sands  are  exposed 
in  the  Union  depot  cuts  under  lignite  and  gray  clay.  These 
sands  contain  numerous  pieces  of  silicified  wood.  No  gravel  of 
northern  origin  was  seen  in  any  place  over  the  hills. 

The  ice  factory  well. — The  following  letter  has  been  received 
from  Mr.  F.  J.  Lukins  of  the  American  Well  Works  who  had 
charge  of  the  drilling  of  the  deep  ice  factory  well :  "I  had  charge 
of  the  deep  well  that  was  sunk  at  Shreveport,  but  it  has  been  so 
long  ago  that  we  have  no  record  here  now  as  to  the  different  for- 
mations. You  can  perhaps  get  from  local  well  drillers,  the 
nature  of  the  formation  to  450  feet.  At  that  depth  we  passed 
through  a  sand  rock  formation.  It  was  very  fine  and  not  very 
hard,  and  contained  considerable  water.  We  made  a  well  at  the 
Shreveport  Junction  in  this  formation,  and  got  a  good  supply 
from  that  stratum.  The  sandstone  formation  was  about  50  feet 
thick.  From  there  to  971  feet,  it  was  a  sort  of  blue  clay  for- 
mation with  occasional  very  hard  streaks  of  thin  shelly  rock. 
This  rock  itself  was  very  thin,  perhaps  one-half  to  one  inch  in 
thickness,  but  there  would  be  several  layers  together,  which 
would  make  up  a  thickness  of  from  6  to  12  in.  At  one  point, 
I  think  about  600  feet,  we  passed  through  a  stratum  of  pyrites  of 
iron,  which  was  about  14  in.  in  thickness.  We  could  not  tell 
whether  this  formation  was  solid,  or  whether  it  was  a  collection 
of  small  pieces  packed  together.  However,  I  procured  one 
specimen  which  was  spherical  in  shape,  and  about  one-half  inch 
in  diameter,  and  it  appeared  from' it,  that  it  must  be  a  collection 


200  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [vSect. 

of  small  pieces  that  made  up  the  14  in.  stratum.  At  961  ft.,  we 
penetrated  a  stratum  that  contained  water.  This  stratum  was  10 
ft.  in  thickness.  We  could  not  tell  what  the  formation  of  this 
was,  as  we  took  out  none  of  the  drillings.  The  water  flowed 
over  the  top  of  the  well  at  this  point.  There  was  also  a  dis- 
charge of  gas  from  the  well  that  would  burn.  The  water  was 
very  strong  with  salt.  I  believe  this  same  well  was  sunk  deeper 
by  some  other  parties  after,  but  what  was  found  below,  we  do 
not  know." 

The  temperature  of  the  water  is  83  °  F.  The  gas  which  Mr. 
Lukins  mentions,  is  collected  and  used  for  lighting  the  office  at 
the  ice  factory. 

Coushatta  bluffs. — The  faint  casts  oi  Leda,  Luchia,  Nucula,  and 
Venericardia  which  were  found  at  this  bluff,  while  proving  the 
Eocene  age  of  the  material,  are  not  distinctive  enough  to  show 
exactly  the  division  to  which  it  belongs.  The  Ledas  are  however 
nearer  the  Lower  Claiborne  forms  than  either  the  Midway  or 
lyignitic  forms.     The  section  here  shown  is  : 

Section,  Coushatta  blujfs 

6.  Orange,  red,  yellow,  gray  and  white  sand,  stratifica- 
tion generally  horizontal,  but  in  places  showing 
cross-bedding.  It  contains  numerous  gray  clay 
gravel  and  a  few  thin  clay  layers.  Changing  above 
to  surface  soil 20  ft. 

5.  Black  clay  with  thin  gray  sand  partings  below  becoming 
light  brown  above.  Layer  about  eight  inches  thick 
and  two  feet  from  the  base  contains  faint  casts  of 
Leda,  Niccnla,  Lnchia  and  Ve7iericardia 10  ft. 

4.  Very  dark  brown  laminated  clay  filled  with  large  iron 
concretions.  The  concretions  are  arranged  along 
three  principal  lines  ;  at  the  base,  a  double  layer 
about  14  feet  from  the  base  and  a  layer  at  the  top.  .  20  ft. 

3.     Black  laminated  clay,  with  crystals  of  gypsum 6  ft. 

2.     Dark  brown  sand  containing  a  few  thin  layers  of  black 

clay 3  ft- 

I.     Black  laminated  sandy  clay,  showing  clay  partings  and 

numerous  crystals  of  gypsum,  to  water  level 3  ft. 


in]  Shreveport  Area  :    Archeology  201 

Conchisio7is. — The  possible  occurrence  of  Lower  Claiborne  at 
Shreveport  and  of  Midwa)-  at  Albany  fiats  makes  the  stratigraphy 
about  Shreveport  appear  much  more  complicated  than  had  been 
supposed  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  suits  of  the 
samples  of  the  borings  of  the  deep  wells  in  the  river  bottoms  and 
the  deep  well  at  the  ice  factory  have  not  been  saved.  It 
furnishes  a  flow  of  warm,  artesian  water.  From  this  fact  it  has 
been  supposed  that  the  well  has  reached  the  upper  part  of  the 
Cretaceous.*  But  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  correlation  with  the 
Cretaceous  on  the  basis  of  salt  water  furnished  is  very  doubtful. 
One  of  the  brine  springs  of  Sabine  parish,  whatever  its  ultimate 
source  maj-  be,  flows  from  the  lower  Claiborne  strata  ;  the  other 
from  presumablj'  Lignitic.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  samples  will 
be  saved  from  future  wells. 

Appendix 
A  Catalogue  of  Aboriginal  Works  on  Caddo   Bottoms 

N.  W.  %  ofS.  IV.  X.  Sec.  4,  20  N.^  14  W.—^  small,  rudely 
rectangular  platform  mound  about  25  by  30  feet  and  10  feet  high. 
On  the  north  side  there  is  an  irregular  raised  platform  two  to 
three  feet  high.  The  mound  has  been  opened,  with  a  hole  about 
five  feet  in  diameter,  by  negroes  searching  for  treasure. 

Sec.  §,  ig  N.,  14  IV. — Group  of  three  mounds.  They  are 
rudely  rectangular,  truncated  pyramid  mounds.  The  largest  is 
known  as  "  Treasure  mound."  It  is  almost  square,  measuring 
about  75  feet  each  way,  and  is  about  16  feet  high,  ft  is  com- 
posed of  black,  sand)'  loam  like  that  beneath  the  veneer  of  red 
clay  on  the  surrounding  land.  An  excavation  about  six  feet 
square  has  been  made  on  the  eastern  side  and  a  pot  is  reported  to 
have  been  discovered.  A  small  excavation  was  started  on  the- 
west  side  but  was  abandoned  before  anything  was  discovered. 
About  150  feet  south  of  the  mound  is  a  "water-hole."  This 
probabl}'  represents  the  excavation  from  which  the  material  was 
obtained  for  the  mound.     The  top  of  the  mound  is  covered  with 

*Lerch.  Bull.  La.  State  Expt.  Sta.;  Geol.  and  Agr.,part  II,  pp.  117,  1893. 

The  engineer  at  the  ice  factory  reports  that  it  maintains  a  constant 
temperature  of  83°  the  year  round.  A  slight  flow  of  gas  accompanies  the 
water  which  is  collected  and  used  for  lighting  the  ice  factory. 


202  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

a  growth  of  white  locust  and  is  said  to  be  the  only  place  in  the 
region  where  it  is  found.  The  mound  although  surrounded  by 
the  waters  of  Sodo  lake  during  the  raft  period,  was  not  covered. 
It  was  used  as  a  place  of  refuge  during  the  war  by  persons  desir- 
ous of  escaping  the  conscription  officers. 

"Arick's  mound,"  the  second  of  the  series,  is  rudely  rectan- 
gular, measuring  40  by  50  feet  on  top,  and  is  12  feet  high. 

"Youngblood  mound"  is  6  feet  high  and  about  the  same 
dimensions  on  top  as  "Arick's  mound." 

A  fourth  elevation,  known  as  "  Trezevent  mound,"  is  found 
in  the  same  group.  It  is  very  irregular  and  appears  to  be  simply 
a  natural  elevation. 

Sec.  21,  22  N.,  i/f.  IV. — Small  conical  mound  on  Red  bayou  ; 
reported  to  have  been  opened. 

Sec.  75,  iS  N.,  14.  W. — Mound  between  the  Pass  and  Twelve 
Mile  bayou.  This  mound  was  not  visited  but  is  shown  on  sheet 
No.  17  of  the  Red  river  survey,  1886. 

Sec.  2,  21  N.,  15  IV. — Two  mounds,  200  feet  in  diameter  and 
15  feet  high  on  Black  bayou,  reported  by  Collins  to  be  natural.* 

//ale's  wood  yard. — Artificial  mound  on  top  of  lower  bluff  at 
Hale's  wood  yard,  100  feet  in  diameter  and  seven  feet  high  ; 
reported  by  Collins. f 

Stonny  pointy  Ferry  lake. — A  cellar  dug  near  the  end  of  Stormy 
point  by  Col.  S.  D.  Pitts  in  1885,  disclosed  quite  an  amount  of 
pottery  at  a  depth  of  from  four  and  one-half  to  five  feet.  One  large 
pot,  when  found,  was  full  of  living  ants,  evidently  attracted 
there  by  something  the  pot  contained.  A  smaller  pot  was  filled 
with  children's  bones.  An  iron  tomahawk,  two  iron  rifle  barrels 
and  an  iron  knife  about  eight  inches  long  were  also  found. 

About  1870  high  water  washed  out  the  bluff  on  the  southwest- 
ern corner  of  the  point  and  exposed  a  skeleton.  The  forehead 
was  covered  with  a  thin  highly  ornamented  piece  of  silver  bent 
to  fit  the  skull.  On  the  back  of  the  head  was  a  circular  piece  of 
silver.  These  pieces  are  said  to  have  been  analyzed  by  a  local 
jeweler  and  pronounced  virgin  silver.  On  the  shoulders  were 
thin  crescent  shaped  pieces  of  metal.     They  were  described  as 

*43d  Cong.  1st  Sess.,  House  Ex.  Doc,  vol.  2,  part  2,  p.  654. 
t  Ibid,  p.  653. 


Ill]  Shreveport  Area  :    Elevations  203 

having  been  coated  with  green,  and  are  hence  inferred  to  have 
been  copper. 

The  son-in-law  of  Larking  Edwards,  the  interpreter  and  friend 
of  the  Caddoes,  "  Old  James  Shemick,"  from  whom  the  place 
was  bought,  stated  several  years  before  the  skeleton  was  found 
that  the  last  chief  of  the  Caddoes  was  buried  somewhere  in  that 
vicinity. 

This  point  was  a  favorite  place  for  the  collecting  of  the  Caddo 
Indians  when  they  desired  to  start  for  Shreveport.  The}'  crossed 
the  lake  at  Newport  point  and  their  trail  from  there  to  Shreve- 
port is  said  to  have  been  quite  visible  as  late  as  i860. 

A  Dictionary  of  Altitudes  in  Northern  Caddo  Parish  and 
Adjacent  Portions  of  Bossier 

Introduction. — The  most  important  lines  of  levels  which  have 
been  run  in  this  region  are  those  which  were  made  in  connection 
with  the  Red  river  and  Cypress  bayou  surveys  by  the  U.  S. 
Engineers  under  direction  of  Maj.  J.  H.  Willard.  The  closure 
of  the  line  of  precise  levels,  run  by  the  Red  River  Survey  from 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  P.  B.  M.  No.  215  at  Delta,  La.  by 
way  of  Shreveport  to  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  P.  B.  M. 
No.  XLV  at  Smithland,  within  22  millimeters*  leaves  little 
doubt  of  the  extreme  accuracy  of  the  work. 

The  altitudes  given  in  the  following  tables  and  credited  to  the 
U.  S.  E.  have  been  reduced  to  mean  Gulf  level  from  the  tables 
published  in  the  Annual  Report  of  Capt.  J.  H.  Willard  for  1893.! 
A  few  marked  R.  R.  S.  M.,  have  been  taken  from  the  maps  of 
the  Red  River  Surve3^ 

The  reduction  of  the  altitudes  on  the  profiles  of  the  various 
railroads  centering  at  Shreveport  to  Gulf  level  has  been  made 
possible  by  a  connection  of  the  U.  S.  E.  gauge  with  the  city 
bench  mark  at  the  corner  of  Crockett  and  Commerce  streets  by 
Mr.  Cain,  city  engineer,  Nov.  22,  1898.  This  showed  city 
elevation  7.18  feet  equal  to  zero  U.  S.  E.  gauge.  Hence  zero 
city  elevation  equals  132.83  feet  mean  tide. 

*  An.  Rept.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1893,  pp.  1944,  1956. 

tAn.  Rept.  Chief  of  Eng.  for  1893,  Appendix  V.  pp.  1953,  1956-57, 
1973-74,  1982,  2064,  2o8o-8r,  1893. 


204  Gkological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [vSect. 

A  connection  of  the  city  levels  with  the  levels  of  the  Kansas 
City,  Pittsburg  and  Gulf  Railroad  levels  made  by  Mr.  H.  DeVV. 
Smith,  the  company's  division  engineer,  and  Mr.  Cain  showed 
zero  city  levels:=22i.9  feet  K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R.  levels.  Hence 
zero  K.  C,  P.  &  G.  R.  R.  levels  is  89.07  feet  below  Gulf  level. 

Abbreviations 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R.— Kansas  City,  Pittsburg  and  Gulf  Rail 
road. 

R.  R.  S.  M. — Red  River  Survey  Maps. 

T.  S.  &  N.  R.  R.— Texarkana,  Shreveport  and  Natchez  Rail 
road. 

T.  &  P.  R.  R.— Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad. 

U.  S.  E. — United  States  Engineers. 


nil 


Shreveport  Area  :   Elevations 


205 


Locality 


Authority 


Elevation 


Albany,  U.  S.  E.  bench  mark 

Ananias  station 

Arkansas-Louisiana  line 

Bargetown  slough,  high  water  1892  . . 
Beazlev's  Landing,  benchmark.  No.  10. 
Beckham's  branch,  K.  C.   P.  &G.  R.  R. 

bridge 

Do  bed   of  branch 

Black  bayou, K.  C.,P.  &  G.  R.  R.bridge 

Do  bed  of  branch 

Blanchard 

Blankton's  bluffs  :    U.  S.  E.  permanent 

reference  point  No.  21 

Blankton's,  top  of  bluff  onLa.-Ark.  line 
Bossier  City,    P.  R.  P.,  No.  35,  yard  of 

Mrs.  D.  C.  Caine 

Corner  plantation,  high  water  1892. . .  . 
Do  U.      S.     E.     bench 

mark.  No.    11 

Coushatta  bluffs,  P.  R    P.,  No,  27 

Cross  lake,   south  end  K.  C.     P   &  G. 

R.  R    bridge 

Cross  lake,  center  K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

bridge 

Cross  lake,  bed  of  outlet  channel 

Do  high  water,  1892 

lilmer's  bayou,  high  water  1892 

Eric's  plantation,  bench  mark,  No.  13. 

Ferrv  lake,  K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R.  bridge. 

'  Do       K.  C.   P.  &  G.  R.  R.,  bed  of 

Ferry  lake,  K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R.,  high 

water  1892 

Gilmer  landing,  bench  mark,  No.  8. . . . 
Gold    Point  plantation,    bench   mark, 

No.   14 

Hackedv   slough    (Sec.  36,    T.   22,  N., 

R.  15  W.)* 

Henderson's  Mills,  bench  mark,  No.  2 
Herndon's  landing,  bench  mark,  No.  17. 
Herndon   plantation,   per.    ref.    point, 

No.  34 

Highest   point   on  the  K.  C.    P.  &  G. 

R.  R  ,   between  Shreveport  and  the 

State  line,  center  N.  E.    'X,  S.  20,  T. 

19,    N.  R.  15  W 

Holmes   bayou,  K.   C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

bridge 


r.  S.  E. 
K.  C.    P. 
K.  C.    P. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 


&  G.  R.  R. 
&  G.  R.  R. 


K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 
Barometer 

U.  S.  E. 
U.  8.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 
U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

T.  S.  &.  N.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 
U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 


K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
K.  C.    P.  &  G.  R.  R. 


226.0 
201. 

224. 

212. 0 
190.0 

217. 
196. 
201. 

173- 
226. 

215.0 
335- 

173-8 
1888 

185.4 
240.9 

181. 

180. 
152. 
177. 
203.0 

183.7 
197. 

155. 

187. 
225.3 

181.3 

174. 
2515 
177  7 

177  9 


323. 
201. 


♦This  elevation  is  only  a  rough  approximation.  Hackedy's  slough  in  the  company's 
levels  is  60  feet  :  where  the  survey  crossed  the  road  a  little  west  of  U.  S.  E.  B.  M., 
No.  10,  near  Rocky  Point,  the  elevation  was  76  feet.  This  gives  an  approximate  correction 
of  114  feet  (190-76). 


2o6 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana 


[Sect. 


Locality 


Authority 


Elevation 


Holmes  bayou,  bed  of  bayou 

Hoss  * 

Howard  bayou,    K.  C.    P.   &  G.   R.  R. 

bridge 

Howard  bayou,  bed  of  bayou 

Hurricane  bhifls,  base  per.  ref.   point, 

No.  29 

Hurricane  bluffs,  topper,  ref  point,  No. 

30a 

Irving's  bluff,  base  f 

Do  top  of  hill  south  of  ferry 

Jeter  landing,  bench  mark 

Kountz's  canal,  high  water,  1892 

I^ake  Home  plantation,  per.  ref.  point, 

No.  28a 

Line  creek,  K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R.   bridge 

Do  bed  of  creek 

Louisiana- Arkansas  line 

McLaughlin's   branch,  K.  C.  P.   &  G. 

R.  R.  bridge 

McLaughlin's  branch,  bed  of  branch.  . 
Missionary  place,  high  water,  1892.  . . . 

Missionary  P.  O 

Mooringsport,  bench  mark 

Do  K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.R.  station 

Do  highest  point  in,    on  K. 

C.P.  &G.  R.  R.  track. 

Myrtis  station 

Pandora  planta.  bench  mark.  No.   15.  . 
Peru  plantation,  per.  ref.  Point,  No.  28 

Poston's  bayou,  high  water,  1892 

Rodessa 

Roswell 

Rush  Point 

Do  high  water,  1892 

Shreveport,  bench  mark  in  Post-Office 

yard   

Shreveport,  corner  Murphey  abd  Texas 

ave 

Shreveport,  high  water,  May  28,  i8q2.  . 


Do 
Do 
Do 

Do 

Do 


low  water,  Nov.  20  1893. . . 
low  water,  Dec.  r,  1894... 
south  end  of   V.    S.   &   P. 

bridge 

Texas  street  and  K.  C.    P. 

&  G.  R.  R.  crossing.... 
top    of    corporation    stone 

near  K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

shops 


K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

T.  S.  &  N.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

Woodruff  survey 
Barometer 
U.  8.  E. 
U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
K.  C.  P.  &G.  R.  R. 
K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 

R.  R.  S.  M. 

U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

R.  R.  S.  M. 

R.  R.  S.  M. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  vS.  E. 

Citv  engineer 
U.  S.  E. 
U.  8.  E. 
U.  8.  E. 

City  engineer 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 


K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 


186. 
249. 

192. 
182. 

194.7 

224.8 

184. 

330. 

200.3 

210.5 

192.6 
202. 
177. 
224. 

216. 

192. 

212.7 

208. 

186.2 

196. 

202. 
209. 
184.2 

198.5 

208.5 

227. 

200. 

193- 

194.3 

198.81 

261.0 

175.7 
142.6 

145.4 

188.34 

242. 


247. 


*See  note  under  Hackedy's  slough. 

+  Obtained  by  comparison  of  data  shown  on  Woodruff  survey  map  with  Red  River  sur- 
vey charts.     It  therefore  represents  only  an  approximation. 


Ill] 


Shreveport  Area  :   Elevations 


207 


Locality 


Authority 


Elevation 


Shreveport  V.   S.   &   P.  R.  R.,  and  K. 

C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R.  crossing 

Shreveport  ■water-work  standpipe,  base 

Do  zero  U.  S.  E.  gauge 

Shreveport   Junction,    T.    &  P.   R.  R. 

bench  mark 

Slaughter's   bayou,   K.  C.  P.  &   G.  R. 

R.  bridge 

Slaughter's  bayou,  bed  of  bayou 

Soda   Fount   plantation,  bench   mark. 

No.  12 

Southside      plantation,    bench    mark, 

No.  16 

Surry   P.  O 

Tiger    branch,  K.    C.    P.   &  G.  R.   R. 

bridge 

Tiger  branch,  bed  of  branch 

Do  high  water  

Vance's    plantation,    per.     ref.    point, 

No.  31 

Vivian  

Wild  Lucia  P.  O 

Do  high  water,  1S92 

Willow  Bend  place,  high  water,  1892. .  . 


K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
City  Engineer 
U.  8.  E. 
T.  &  P.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

U.  S.  E. 

U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
U.  S.  E. 

K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R. 
R.  R.  S.  M 
U.  S.  E. 
U.  S.  E. 


235.1 
266.9 
140.01 
230.28 


199. 
183.6 

179.6 

205. 
190. 

163. 
188. 
180.3 

249. 

195- 

198.0 

186.6 


2o8 


Gkological   Survey   of    Louisiana 


[Sect. 


U.  S.   E.  Bench   Marks  and  Permanent  Reference  Points  Shown 
ON  Soir,  Map  ok  Upper  Red  River  Valley. 

(The  elevations  here  given  are  taken  from  the  report  of  Capt.  J.  H.  Willard 
for  1893,  An.  Rapt.  Chief  of  Kng.  for  1893,  Appendix  V.  The  eleva- 
tions have  been  reduced  to  mean  Gulf  level  and  are  the  elevations  of 
the  boss  of  the  pipe  cap  over  the  bench  mark.) 


P.  B.M.INo.    I      Albany  Point 

Henderson's  Mills 

Mooringsport 

Jeter  Landing 

B.  M.        "      8  i  Gilmer's  Landing,  near  Dr.  Vance's  residence. 

Between  Cowhide  and  Horseshoe  bayous 

Uni  Plantation  near  Irving's  bluflF  road 

Corner  place  on  west  side  of  road  running  south 

On  back  levee  north  end  of  Soda  Fount  Plan- 
tation ....    

James  Eric  place 

S.  W.  corner  Gold  Point  plantation 

Levee,  Pandora  plantation 

Back  levee  between  Soiith  Side  and  Cuba  plan- 
tations   

Cuba  plantation  between  Twelve  Mile  bayou 
and  the  river 

Herndon's  landing 

P.  R.  P.i  "  21  Blankton's  bluffs,  500  feet  north  of  Louisiana- 
Arkansas  line 

West  bank,  90  feet  south  of  Bargetowu  slough. 

East  bank ,  head  of  Boom  bend 

East  bank,  south  side  of  Alban's  canal  No.  i 
450  feet  from  the  river 

Hast  bank,  just  below  Poston's  baycu 

East  bank,  between  Red  river  and  Dutch 
John's  lake 

Top  of  Coushatta  bluflf 

Back  levee  between  Peru  plantation  and  Doo- 
le}''s  bayou 

Back  levee,  Lake  Home  plantation 

Hurricane  bluffs,  upper  end 

30a    Top  Hurricane  bluffs 

31  j  Vance's  plantation,  near  wind-mill 

32  North  side  Benoit's  ba5'ou 

33  West  bank,  just  above  Barr's  ferry 

34  Herndon  plantation 

%5      Bossier  City,  yard  of  Mrs.  D.  C.  Caine 

B.  M.        "    45      Shreveport,  postoffice  yard   


3  i 

4  i 
8  I 

9 

10  I 
II 
12 

13  I 

14  i 

16  ! 

i6a| 
17 


28a 
29 


226.0 

251-5 
186.2 
200.3 
225.3 
193-0 
190.0 
185-4 

183.6 

183-7 
181.3 
184.2 

179.6 

178.2 
177.7 

215  o 
207.9 
206.6 

204.0 
200.8 

200.4 
240.9 

198-5 
192  6 

194-7 
224.8 
180.3 
184.7 
175-6 
177.9 
173-8 
198.81 


GROLOGrcAL  Survey  or  I.oi 


-«ii^' 


^^:0' 


V  /• 


GBOM>CICiU,    8KHTEY    OF    IXimStANA. 


P^ITE    ANSK    ISLAND 


THIS   IS   ABOl'T    ONi:-HAI.P  THK    DIMRNSIOXS    OF    THK    MODKL 


Special  Report  No.  j 
THE  FIVE  ISLANDS 

BY 

Arthur  C.  Veatch 


CONTENTS 

Introduction 

Page  Page 

The   writer's  visit    to    the  Mapping  of  the  islands 213 

islands 213 

History  of  the  Study  of  the  Islands 
Period  Before  the  Discovery  of  Rock  Salt 

Stoddard 213     Darby 214 

Thomas sy' s  first  visit 214 

Period  Since  the  Discovery  of   Rock    Salt 

Thomas sy' s  second  visit 215     Pomeroy 218 

Owen 215     Bolton 218 

Goessmann 215    Joor 218 

Hilgai'd 215     Lercli  and  Vaugha7i 218 

Lockett, 217      Clendenin 219 

Hopkins 217     Lucas 219 

Rapley 217 

Geographical  Position  and  General   Topographi- 
cal Description  of  the  Islands 
Geographical  Position 

Location 219     Surronndiyig  country 220 

General  Topography 

Lsland-like  character  of  the  Area 220 

hills 220     Elevation 220 

Belle  Isle 

Location 
Geograph  ical  su  rro  21  n  dings  .221 


Topography 

Shape  and  area 221  Positio?i  of  the  hills 221 

History  of  the  Mining  Operations 

Discovery  of  salt 222  Present  work 222 

Geology 

Surface  of  geology 223  Analyses  of  salt 226 

The  sand  pit  fossils 223  Limestone  in  salt 227 


The  wells 224 

Section  at  the  shaft 225 

Galena  from  the  shaft 225 

Salt 226 

Archeology 
Shell  heap 229 


Section  of  hole  No.  12 227 

Section  of  hole  No.  ij 228 

Conclusions 229 


Cote  Blanche 

Location  and  Topography 
Location 229      Topography 229 

GeoLOGY 

Salt  investigatio7is 230      Tin   ^ea-clij/  section 230 

Surface  geology 230 


Grande  Cote 
Location 

Methods  of  communication  Surrojoidifig  country 231 

with  the  main  land 231 

Topography 
Central  ridge 232      The  lakes 232 

History  ok  Mining  Operations 

Ea  rly  work 233     Later  work 233 

Geology 

Surface  geology 234     Origifi  of  the  lakes 234 

The  wells  234     Conclusio?is 236 

The  shape  and  position  of 

the  salt  mass 234 

Archeology 
Shell  heap 237 


Petite  Anse 
Location 

Geographical  Position 237     Communication  with  the 

Surrounding  country 237  tnain  land 238 

Topography 

Shape  and  area 238      The  lakes 239 

The  hills 238 

History  of  Mining  Operations 
Early  period:  prior  to  1862.22,9     Present  period  :  iSdy-iSgg  .2\\ 
War  period :  1862-186 j  ....  240 

Geology 

Surface  geology 243  Section  northeast  of  the  mine  24.^ 

Lignite 244      Vertebrate  remains 245 

Section  at  deep  boring 244     New  shaft  sectio7i 247 


Sandsto7ie  of  Iron  mine  run  244 
Analyses  of  the  Salt 

Yearly  production  of  salt .  .  .  .248 

The  lakes:   a    zoological 

problem 249 

Archeology 

Remains  in  salt  mine  valley  .251 


The  salt 247 

Marsh  fires 249 

The  cypress  stump  stratum .  .  250 
Co7iclusions 250 

Other  remains 253 


C6te  Caroline 

Location   and   Topography 


Geographical  position 254 

Surroti7iding  country 254 

Geology 

Stirface  geology 255 

Bluff  section 255 

Salt  exploratio7is 255 

Section  of  hole  No.  8 256 


Topography 255 


Blue  clay  ajid  zinc 256 

Shape  of  salt  mass 256 

Co72clusio?is 257 


Attakapas  Prairie 
Well  Sections 

Hilgard' s  snppositio7i 257      Gle7tcoe  well  sectio7i 258 

feannerette    well  sectio7i  .  .  .  .257      Tho77tassy' s  sectio7i 258 


Gkxeral   Considerations 
The  Origin  of  the   Islands 
The  method  and   date  of  Comparison  of  the  Louisiana 

formation 259     rock  salt  deposits  to  the  great 

deposits  of  the  world 261 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  3  :    Five  Islands  213 

THE  FIVE  ISLANDS 

Introduction 

The  write f  s  visit  to  the  islands. — In  view  of  the  recent  develop- 
ments, the  writer  was  directed  during  the  spring  of  the  present 
year  to  leave  work  in  northern  Louisiana  and  make  an  examina- 
tion of  the  Five  Islands  in  Iberia  and  St.  Mary  parishes. 

Mapping  of  the  Islands. — The  lack  of  accurate  maps  of  the 
islands  was  immediately  noticed  and  he  at  once  began  making  a 
twenty-foot  contour  map  of  Petite  Anse  island.  During  the  work 
on  Grande  Cote,  in  locating  the  different  prospect  holes  and  in 
determining  their  elevation  above  tide,  enough  facts  were  collected 
to  make  a  sketch  topographic  map  of  that  island.  Belle  Isle  was 
also  mapped.  It  is  regretted  that  there  was  no  one  on  Cote  Car- 
line  (or  Jeflferson  island)  who  could  give  information  regarding 
the  prospect  holes  there.  It  accordingly  seemed  advisable  to  post- 
pone the  mapping  of  this  island,  for  its  general  features  are 
shown  on  the  maps  of  the  other  islands,  till  such  data  could  be 
obtained. 

History  of  the  Study  of  the  Islands 
Period  Before  the  Discovery  of  Rock  Salt 

Probably  no  portion  of  Louisiana  has  received  more  attention 
from  geologists  than  the  central  costal  region  and  especially 
Petite  Anse  island.  The  phenomena  there  shown  are  of  such  a 
character  as  to  attract  attention  at  once. 

Stoddard. — Although  Maj.  Stoddard  evidently  did  not  visit  any 
of  the  islands,  their  existence  was  known  to  him.  He  speaks  of 
the  elevated  islands  along  the  coast;  "some  of  which"  he 
assures  us,  "  contain  sulphur  and  one  has  been  known  to  be  on 
fire  for  at  least  three  months. ' '  To  stories  of  th  is  nature  is  doubt- 
less to  be  traced  the  origin  of  the  name  "  Fire  islands"  applied 
to  this  group.*     He  describes  Belle  Isle  as  about  three  miles  in 


Sketches  of  Louisiana  by  Maj.  Stoddard,  Phila.,  1812,  pp.  179-180,  184. 
*  Geology  of  Lower  Louisiana,   by  E.   W.    Hilgard.   Am.   Jour.   Sci.,    2d 
Series,  voL  47,  p.  86. 


214  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [vSect. 

circumference,  240  feet  high,  and  situated  a  few  miles  west  of  the 
mouth  of  the  "  Chafalia  "  river. 

Darbv. — During  or  about  1817  William  Darby  visited  Petite 
Anse.  This  is,  to  the  best  of  our  knowledge,  the  first  visit  of  a 
man  of  scientific  attainments  to  any  of  the  islands.  He  was  a 
man  of  keen  insight  and  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the  first  to 
make  geological  observations  of  importance  in  Louisiana.  Darby 
noticed  the  marked  difference  between  the  flora  of  the  island  and 
that  of  the  surrounding  marshes  and  prairie.  The  flora  he 
regarded  as  the  same  as  that  on  the  Opelousas  hills  and  the  hills 
further  north.  He  pointed  out  the  likeness  of  the  salt  spring,  dis- 
covered several  years  before  his  visit,  to  the  salt  springs  of 
Louisiana  north  of  Red  river.*  This  point  was  not  again 
noticed  until  Hilgard's  third  Louisiana  article. f  He  attributes 
the  islands  to  a  source  other  than  the  "revolution  affected  by 
alluvion."  + 

Thomassy^ s  first  visit. — Thomassy's  first  visit  to  Petite  Anse 
was  made  in  i857.§  Between  that  time  and  1859  he  visited  all 
the  islands  but  Belle  Isle.  He  speaks  of  the  salt  springs  on  Petite 
Anse  and  traces  their  origin  to  masses  of  rock  salt  ' '  scattered 
through  the  strata."  He  regards  the  Five  islands  and  the  hills 
along  the  Bayou  Teche,  Boeuf  and  beyond  the  Red  river  as  the 
products  of  sort  of  mud,  water  and  gas  volcanoes  ;  in  a  word  they 
are  gigantic  mud-lumps.  They  are  not  of  the  same  age,  Cote 
Blanche  being  the  oldest  and  the  Cote  Gelee,  Opelousas  and 
Avoylles  hills  the  most  recent.  They  have  probably  been  form- 
ing since  the  middle  of  the  Quaternary. || 


*  The  Emigrant's  Guide  to  the  Western  and  Southern  States  of  Louisiana, 
Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  etc.  With  map.  By  Wm. Darby  ; 
New  York,  181S,  p.  86. 

f  Summar}-  of  Results  of  a  Late  Geological  Reconnaissance  of  Louisiana, 
by  E.  W.  Hilgard.     Am.  Jour.  Sci..  2d  Ser.,  vol.  48,  p.  342,  1869. 

X  A  Geographical  Description  of  Louisiana  by  William  Darby,  1816,  p. 48. 

\  Supplement  a  la  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiana.  He  Petite  Anse. 
Geol.  Soc.  France,  Bull.,  2d  Series,  vol.  20,  1863,  p.  542. 

I  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiana  par  R.  Thomassy.  New  Orleans, 
i860.     Chapter  VIII,  pp.  72-86. 


in]  Special  Report  No.  3:    Five  Islands  215 

Period  Since  the  Discovery  of  Rock  Sai,t 

Thomassy' s  seco7id  visit. — Shortly  after  the  discovery  of  rock 
salt  (1862)  on  Petite  Anse  he  again  visited  the  island,  and  made 
a  more  thorough  examination  of  it.  On  this  visit  he  found 
besides  the  original  "crater  of  elevation,"  which  he  mentions 
in  his  earlier  report,  three  others.  His  report*  on  this  visit 
entitles  him  to  the  credit  of  having  been  the  first  to  bring  the 
discovery  of  rock  salt  before  the  scientific  world  and  of  having 
prepared  the  first  and  most  accurate  sketch  map  of  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  island. 

Owen. — The  next  scientific  observer,  and  the  one  to  whom 
the  credit  of  having  been  the  first  to  make  a  scientific  investiga- 
tion of  the  island  is  generally  given, f  Dr.  Richard  Owen, visited 
the  island  in  November,  1865.  After  a  hasty  examination  he 
showed  that  the  island  is  not  of  volcanic  origin  ;  but  consists 
entirely  of  sedimentary  material. |  The  island  he  considers  a 
dune-like  formation  made  by  the  combined  action  of  the  wind 
and  waves. 

Goessma7in. — Under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Bureau  of 
Mines,  in  November,  1866,  Dr.  Chas.  Goessmann,  in  company 
with  Mr.  C.  E.  Buck,  made  a  careful  economic  examination  of 
the  island  and  prepared  a  sketch  hacheur  map.  Goessmann 
supposes  that  the  rock  salt  deposit  was  formed  from  salt  springs 
rather  than  sea  water,  and  is  of  Tertiary  origin. § 

Hilgard. — The  following  year  Prof.  Eugene  W.  Hilgard, 
under  the  direction   of  the  Smithsonian   Institution,  visited  the 


*  Supplement  a  la  Geologie  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane  lie  Petite  Anse : 
par  M.  R.  Thotnassy.  Carte.  Soc.  Geol  de  France,  Bull.,  2d  serie,  tome 
20,  pp.  542-544.  1863. 

f  On  the  Geology  of  Lower  Louisiana  and  the  Rock  Salt  Deposit  of  Petite 
Anse  (abs. ).  Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d  series,  vol.  47,  p.  77;  1869,  by  B.  W.  Hil- 
gard. 

Ibid. — Smithsonian  Contr. ,  vol.  23,  separate  No.  248,  p.  i,  1872. 

X  On  the  Rock  Salt  at  New  Iberia,  Louisiana  by  Prof.  Richard  Owen, 
Trans.  Acad.  Sci.,  St.  Louis,  vol.  2,  pp.  250-252,  1868. 

Ibid. — Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d  series,  vol.  42,  pp.  120-123,  1868. 

§  On  the  Rock  Salt  Deposit  of  the  Petite  Anse,  Louisiana,  Salt  Company. 
Report  of  American  Bureau  of  Mines  by  Chas.  Goessmann,  New  York,  1867. 


2i6  Geological  Survey   of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

three  central  islands.  The  results  of  his  investigations  are 
embodied  in  a  number  of  articles.* 

Before  his  reconnaissance  of  western  and  northwestern  Louisi- 
ana in  May  and  June,  1869,  he  considered  the  rock  salt  as  having 
been  formed  by  evaporation  in  a  lagoon  or  series  of  lagoons  and 
as  resting  in  a  bed  of  marine  clay  similar  to  that  found  at  New 
Orleans  and  Bayou  Sale  (since  correlated  with  the  Port  Hudson) 
and  of  similar  early  Quaternary  age,  anterior  to  the  Orange 
Sand.  During  the  Orange  Sand  and  Port  Hudson  deposition 
the  western  part  of  the  Mississippi  valley  was  filled  to  a  height 
equal  to  if  not  exceeding  that  of  the  highest  hills  of  the 
islands  and  in  the  subsequent  erosion  of  the  valley  by  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  these  islands  were  formed  by  the  accidents  of 
differential  erosion.]; 

In  November,  1869,  Hilgard  first  advanced  the  theory  of  the 
"  back-bone  "  of  Louisiana.     This   theor}-   he  re-affirms    in    his 


*  Preliminary  Report  of  a  Geological  Reconnaissance  of  Louisiana 
New  Orleans,  1869. 

Ue  Bow's  Review,  vol.  37-38,  pp.  754-768. 

Geology  of  Lower  Louisiana  and  the  Rock  Salt  Deposits  of  Petite 

Anse.     Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  2d  series,  vol.  47,  pp.  77-88,  1869. 

Am.  Assn.  Adv.  Sci.,  Proc,  vol.  17,  pp.  327-340,  1869. 

Abstract,  Neues  Jahrbuch,  1S73,  pp.  553-554.  1874. 

On  the  Geological  History  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Am.  Jour.  Sci.,  3d  series,  vol.  2,  p.  393,  1871. 

Am.  Assn.  Adv.  Sci.,  Proc,  vol.  20,  1871. 

La.  State  Univ.,  Report  of  Supt.  for  1871,  pp.  207-222,  New  Orleans, 

1872. 

Am.  Nat.,  vol.  5,  pp.  514-518,  1871. 

(Remarks  on  the  Age  of  the  Rock  Salt  of  Petite  Anse.) 

Am.  Nat.,  voL  5,  pp.  523-524,   1871. 
On  the  Geology  of  Lower  Louisiana  and  the  Rock  Salt  Deposits  of  Petite 
Anse  Island. 
Smith.     Contr.,  vol.  23,  separate  No.  248,  Washington,  1872. 
The  Salines  of  Louisiana. 

Mineral  Resources  of  the  U.  S.  for  1882,  pp.  558-565,  Wash.,  1883. 
Physico-geographical  and  agricultural  features  of  the  State  of  Louisiana. 
Tenth  Census  U.  S.,  vol.  5,  p.  112. 
f  On  the  Geology  of  Lower  Louisiana  and  the  Rock  Salt  of  Petite  Anse 
by  Eugene  W.  Hilgard,  Am   Jour.  Sci.,  2d  series,  vol.  47,  p.  84,  1869. 
tibid,  p.  88. 


GkoI.OC.ICAI,    SlKVEY    OK    LOUISIANA,    KlcrOKT,    1899 


JOHN    MARSH    AVERV,    DISCOVERER    OK    ROCK   SALT 


Geoi^ogicai,  Survkv  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1S99 


PI.ATR  21 


Topoi^raphic  Map  of  Belle  Isle 
By  a.  C.   Veatch 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  3:    Five  Islands  217 

later  articles.  According  to  this,  the  Five  Islands  are  but  the 
erosion-formed  outliers  of  a  Cretaceous  ridge  or  backbone  which 
traverses  Louisiana  from  its  northwest  corner  in  the  direction  of 
Vermillion  bay  ;  the  salt  being  of  Cretaceous  rather  than  early 
Quaternary  age.  He  thinks  that  at  the  beginning  of  Tertiary 
time  the  existence  of  the  axis  of  elevation  was  marked  merely 
by  a  number  of  disconnected  islands.*  In  later  geological  times 
the  five  outcrops  were  buried  under  deposits  of  Orange  Sand  and 
Port  Hudson  material,  as  indeed  was  the  whole  Mississippi 
valley,  and  in  the  re-excavation  of  the  valley  by  the  Mississippi 
the  material  covering  the  Cretaceous  nuclei  was  not  eroded  so 
much  as  that  of  the  surrounding  countrj',  thus  forming  the 
islands,  t 

Closely  following  Hilgard  came  Lockett  of  the  Louisiana  State 
University. 

Lockett. — Col.  lyockett  visited  the  islands  in  1870.  He  con- 
sidered them  as  merely  a  prolongation  of  the  Cote^  Gelee,  Car- 
encro,  Grande  Coteau  and  Opelousas  hills  ;  the  whole  at  one 
time  forming  a  great  natural  levee  along  the  shore  of  a  vast 
estuary  occupying  the  present  Mississippi  valley.  During  a 
great  flood  a  series  of  mighty  crevasses  were  made  in  this  levee, 
thus  forming  the  islands. J 

Hopkins. — So  far  as  we  are  aware  Hopkins  did  not  visit  the 
Five  Islands,  certainl)-  not  during  the  time  spent  in  collecting 
material  for  his  first  three  reports.  His  idea  of  the  structure 
and  relations  of  the  islands  to  the  surrounding  terranes  is  shown 
in  his  cross-section  of  the  State  republished  in  the  general  dis- 
cussion of  the  Cretaceous  (p.  33). 

Rapley. — In  1884,  in  the  preparation  of  an  article  on  the 
"  Soils  and  Products  of  Southwestern  Louisiana  "  for  the  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture  Mr.  E.  E.  Rapley  visited  Petite  Anse 


*  Geological  History  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  E.  W.  Hilgard,  Am.  Jour. 
Sci. ,  3d  Series,  vol.  2,  pp.  393,  871. 

f  Ibid,  p.  404. 

X  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Topographical  Survey  of  Louisiana,  by 
Samuel  H.  Lockett.  Louisiana  State  University,  Report  of  Supt.  for  1870, 
pp.  16-26,  New  Orleans,  187 1. 


2i8  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

and  Cote  Blanche.  He  gives  a  short  account  of  the  mining 
methods  on  Petite  Anse.* 

Pomeroy. — Pomeroy's  report  on  the  islands  is  confined  to  a 
discussion  of  the  methods  of  mining  salt  on  Petite  Anse.f 

Bolton. — Early  in  1888  Dr.  H.  Carrington  Bolton  read  a  paper 
before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Science  on  the  "  Great  Salt 
Deposits  of  Petite  Anse. ' '  He  mentions  the  occurrence  of  lignite 
and  sandstone  north  of  the  shaft  in  Iron  Mine  run  and  concludes 
from  the  direction  (S.  E.)  of  the  dip  that  it  must  pass  beneath 
the  salt.  The  black  bands  in  the  salt,  he  states,  contain  about 
seven  per  cent,  of  insoluble  matter  chiefly  gypsum  and  form  well 
marked  folds,  from  which  he  concludes  that  at  some  time  the 
salt  has  been  submitted  to  lateral  pressure.;}; 

Joor. — The  discovery  of  numerous  vertebrate  remains  on  Petite 
Anse  in  an  attempt  to  sink  a  shaft  in  1890  was  the  occasion  of  a 
visit  to  the  island  by  Dr.  Joseph  P".  Joor  of  New  Orleans. § 

Lerch  and  Vang han. — ^Although  neither  Eerch  nor  Vaughan 
visited  the  Five  Islands  their  diametrically  opposite  views  on  the 
origin  of  the  various  Cretaceous  outcrops  in  the  State,  based  on 
observations  in  northern  Louisiana  early  in  the  present  decade, 
are  of  interest  here.     Eerch  holds  ||  that  they  represent  the  peaks 

*  Bull.  U.  S.  Dept.  Agr.  The  vSoils  and  Products  of  Southwestern  Louis- 
iana, including  the  parishes  of  Saint  Landry,  LaFayette,  Vermillion,  Saint 
Martin's,  Iberia  and  Saint  Mary's  (by  E.  E-  Rapley)  Washington,  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office,  18S4,  pp.  36-40. 

f  The  Petite  Anse  Salt  Mine,  by  Richard  A.  Pomeroy.  Eng.  and  Mining 
Journal,  vol.  46,  pp.  280-281,  1888. 

Sci.  Amer.  Suppl.,  vol.  26,  pp.  10719-10720,  No.  671,  1888. 

Am.  Inst.  Mining  Eng.,  Trans.,  vol.  17,  pp.  107-113,  1889. 

:(:The  Great  Salt  Deposits  of  Petite  Anse  by  H.  Carrington  Bolton,  New 
York  Acad.  Sci.,  Trans.,  vol.  7,  pp.  122-127,  1888.  The  Great  Salt  Deposits 
of  Petite  Anse,  Louisiana,  by  H  Carrington  Bolton. 

New  York  Acad.  Sci.  Trans.,  vol.  7,  pp.  122-127,  1888. 

Sci.  Am.,  Supp.  vol.  26,  pp.  10475-10476,  No.  656,  1888. 

Am.  Nat.  vol.  20,  p.  1074,  1886. 

§  Notes  on  a  Collection  of  Archeological  and  Geological  Specimens 
Collected  in  a  Trip  to  Avery's  Island  (Petite  Anse),  Feb.  ist,  1890,  by 
Joseph  F.  Joor,  M.  D.,  Am.  Nat.,  vol.  29,  pp.  394-398,  1895. 

II A  Preliminary  Report  of  the  Hills  of  Louisiana  South  of  the  V.  S.  &  P. 
R.  R.  to  Alexandria,  La.,  by  Otto  Lerch.  Bull.  State  Expt.  Station,  La., 
Part  II,  p.  72,  Baton  Rouge,  1892, 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  3  :    Five  Islands  219 

of  the  great  mountain  chain  made  of  fractured,  faulted  and  folded 
strata  ;  while  Vaughan  thinks  that  they  owe  their  origin  entirely 
to  erosion  in  pre-Eocene  time.^ 

Clendenin. — W.  W.  Clendenin,  formerly  geologist  to  the  State 
Experiment  Station,  visited  all  the  islands  during  1895.  He 
concludes  that  the  foundation  of  these  islands  is  Cretaceous  and 
that  the  Cretaceous  ridge,  of  which  the  islands  are  remnants, 
owes  its  origin  to  differential  elevation  in  pre-Eafa3'^ette  time  ; 
which  differential  elevation  was  continued  in  the  later  part  of  the 
Lafayette;  but  that  the  present  aspect  of  the  islands  is  due  to  the 
interruption  of  this  ridge  by  erosion,  which  began  immediately 
after  the  initial  elevation  and  was  most  active  during  the  early 
part  of  the  Columbia  period. f 

Lucas. — The  latest  published  observation  on  the  islands  are  by 
Capt.  A.  F.  Eucas,  at  one  time  superintendent  and  manager  of 
the  Avery  Mine  and  in  charge  of  most  of  the  borings  on  C6te 
Carline,  Cote  Blanche  and  Belle  Isle.  He  gives  abstracts  of  the 
Cote  Carline  Island  borings  \  and  records  the  discovery  of  salt  on 
Grande  Cote  and  Belle  Island. §  He  states  that  the  salt  is  of 
Tertiary  age  but  gives  no  reasons  for  believing  it  such. 

Geographical    Position    and    General    Topographical 

Features  of  the  Islands 

Geographicai.  Position 

Location. — Reference  to  the  geological  map  of  the  State  will 
show  five  elevations  along  a  line  bearing  S.  49°  E.  and  running 
from  Lake  Peigneur,  half  way  between  New  Iberia  and  Abbeville, 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Atchafalya  river.     Only  one,   the  second, 

*A  Brief  Contribution  to  the  Geolog)-  and  Paleontology  of  Northwestern 
Tyouisiana  by  T.  Wayland  Vaughan,  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  Bull.  No.  142,  p. 
15,  1896. 

f  A  Preliminary  Report  on  the  P'lorida  Parishes  of  East  Louisiana  and  the 
BluflF,  Prairie  and  Hill  Lands  of  Southwest  Louisiana  by  W.  W.  Clendenin, 
La.,  State  Expt.  Station  Bull.  Geology  and  Agriculture  Part  III,  pp. 
239-240,  1896. 

:j:The  Avery  Salt  Mine  and  the  Joseph  Jefferson  Salt  Deposit,  Louisiana, 
by  A.  F.  Lucas,  Eng.  and  Mining  Jour.,  vol.  62,  pp.  463-464,  1896. 

§  Louisiana  Salt  Resources  by  A.  F.  Lucas.  Am.  Manuf .,  vol,  63,  pp. 
910-91 1,  1898. 


220  GEOLO(iICAL   SuRVEY   OF    LOUISIANA  [Sect. 

is  on  the  sea-coast.  The  others  range  from  an  eighth  of  a  mile, 
in  the  case  of  the  central  elevation,  to  at  least  eight  miles  in  the 
case  of  the  one  at  the  extreme  northwest  end  of  the  series.  All 
face  on  one  side  at  least,  the  waters  of  a  bayou  or  lake. 

Stirroundhig  country. — The  lower  four  are  entirely  surrounded 
by  a  great  sea  marsh,  much  of  which  during  extremely  high 
tides,  occasioned  by  strong  south  winds,  is  covered  with  water. 
The  upper  one  rises  abruptly  from  a  very  level  prairie.  In 
order,  from  the  most  southeastern,  they  are  Belle  Isle,  C6te 
Blanche,  Grand  Cote,  Petite  Anse  and  Cote  Carline. 

General  Topography 

Island-like  character  of  the  hills. — It  will  be  readily  seen  that 
in  the  ordinary  sense  these  are  not  islands,  but  there  is  very  lit- 
tle difficulty  in  seeing  why  the  lower  four  were  called  such. 
The  isolated,  island-like  character  of  these  groups  of  hills  ;  their 
separation  from  the  main  land  by  impassible  sea  marsh  and 
cypress  swamp  ;  the  fact  that  they  offer  to  man  a  place  for 
houses  and  fields  and  the  surrounding  land  does  not  ;  all  tend  to 
make  the  resemblance  of  these  isolated  clusters  of  hills  to 
ordinary  islands  very  marked  indeed.  The  term  would  then 
naturally  attach  itself  to  the  analogous  group  of  hills.  Cote  Car- 
line,  rising  abruptly  out  of  the  prairie. 

Area. — The  largest  island,  Grande  Cote,  is  an  irregular  circle 
a  trifle  over  two  miles  in  diameter  ;  the  longest.  Petite  Anse,  has 
an  extreme  length  of  about  two  and  three-eighths  miles.  The 
former  has  an  area  of  a  little  less  than  2,000  acres  ;  Cote  Carline, 
the  smallest,  has  only  about  300  acres.* 

Elevation. — While  an  elevation  of  75  feet,  the  elevation  of  the 
highest  hill  on  Cote  Carline,  or  even  twice  as  much,  the  eleva- 
tion of  Prospect  hill  Petite  Anse,  in  some  regions  would  be  a  very 
insignificant  feature  indeed,  hills  of  this  size  rising  abruptly  out 
of  the  perfectly  flat  sea  marsh  attract  attention  at  once.t 


*  Lucas.   Am.  Manuf.,  vol.  63,  p.  910.  1898. 

t  Both  the  areas  and  the  altitudes  have  been  the  subjects  of  a  great  variety 
of  statements,  by  diflferent  authors.  Many  are  merely  estimates.  Some,  in 
the  case  of  land  areas,  are  based  upon  deeds  which  describe  land  situated 
not  only  on  the  island  but  in  the  surrounding  marshes.     Thus  the  area  of 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands:    Belle  Isle  221 

Bei-le  Isle 
Location 

Geographical  surroiuidiyigs. — Near  the  mouth  of  Myrtle  bayou, 
one  of  the  distributaries  of  the  Atchafalya  and  about  eight  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  that  river,  surrounded  by  a  network  of  bayous 
and  impassible  sea  marsh  is  Belle  Isle. 

Mj^rtle  bayou  is  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  islands  but  two 
little  deep  bayous  pass  along  the  island,  one  on  the  eastern  and 
one  on  the  western  side.  On  the  south  is  a  small  shallow  lake, 
Belle  Isle  lake,  about  half  a  mile  long  and  a  quarter  as  broad, 
with  a  tiny  little  marshy  island  near  the  northern  end  ;  and  a 
mile  over  the  marshes  is  the  shore  of  Atchafalaya  bay,  an  arm 
of  the  Gulf.      (See  plate  21.) 

Topography 

Shape  and  area. — The  general  shape  and  immediate  surround- 
ings of  Belle  Isle  are  shown  on  the  topographical  map  of  the 
island  (PI.  21).  The  island,  that  is,  the  portion  above  the  sea 
marsh,  has  an  area  of  360  acres,  barely  half  of  which  is  now  in 
cultivation. 

Position  of  the  hills. — The  island  is  a  rudely  triangular  area 
with  a  single  range  of  hills  along  its  north-west  side.  This 
range  shows  four  peaks.     The  highest,  "  Lookout  hill,"  on   the 

Cote  Carline  is  given  in  one  place  as  300  acres  and  in  another  9,000  acres. 
Most  of  the  elevations  are  based  on  barometric  readings,  though  some 
are  merely  guesses.  Belle  Isle  is  given  as  more  than  200  feet  high  by  Maj. 
Stoddard  (Sketches  of  Louisiana,  Phila.  1812,  p.  179);  85  feet  by  Hilgard 
(Mineral  Resources  of  the  U.  S.  for  1882,  p.  558);  and  125  by  Clendenin 
(Bull.  La.  State  Expt.  Stations,  1896.  On  the  Florida  Parishes,  etc.,  p. 240). 
It  is  regretted  that  on  account  of  lack  of  time  and  instruments  it  was  impos- 
sible to  do  exact  leveling  this  year,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  results 
obtained  in  altitudes  are  accurate  to  within  five  feet.  Leveling  was  done 
with  a  Locke's  hand  level,  all  levels  being  run  at  least  twice  from  different 
points  on  the  nearest  bayou,  and  repeated  if  the  results  showed  a  discrepancy 
greater  than  five  feet.  Locations  were  made  with  a  3>^  inch,  open  siglit, 
Keuffel  &  Esser  compass.  While  great  precision  is  impossible  with  these 
instruments,  it  is  believed  that  the  results  will  advance  our  knowledge  at 
least  one  step  toward  a  satisfactory  degree  of  refinement. 


222        '         Geological  Survey  of  L,ouIvSiana  [Sect. 

westernmost  point  of  the  island  is  80  feet  high.  It  derives  its 
name  from  the  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  triangulation  platform 
on  its  summit.  The  second,  "Green  Tree  hill,"  is  merely  a 
spur  of  Lookout  hill.  Near  the  giant  live  oak  on  one  side  of 
its  summit  is  a  bit  of  crumbling  masonry  which  is  pointed  out 
as  the  ruins  of  the  chimney  of  the  house  of  Lafitte,  the  pirate. 
Around  it  many  holes  have  been  dug  in  a  fruitless  search  for 
hidden  treasure.  "  Bald  hill,"  67  feet  high,  and  the  Shaft  hill, 
51  feet  high  near  the  northeastern  point  of  the  island  complete 
the  range.  The  rest  of  the  island  is  a  gently  sloping,  slightly 
elevated  ridge  which  extends  south-east  from  the  hills.  Willow 
pond,  almost  in  the  center  of  the  island  is  a  shallow,  wooded, 
fresh  water  pond. 

History  of  Mining  Operations 

Discovery  of  salt. — The  accidental  discovery  of  rock  salt  in"  an 
artesian  boring  on  Cote  Carline,  and  the  ever  increasing  difficulty 
of  mining  salt  on  Petite  Anse,  due  to  water  in  the  mine,  caused 
systematic  explorations  for  salt  to  be  begun  on  the  other  islands. 

In  November,  1896,  Capt.  A.  F.  Lucas  undertook,  at  his  own 
expense,  to  find  salt  on  Belle  Isle.  In  December  he  discovered 
salt  in  hole  No.  i  at  a  depth  of  373  feet.*  In  1897  and  1898  the 
Gulf  company  bored  additional  holes  and  in  August  started  a 
shaft  on  the  site  of  hole  No.  11  where  the  salt  was  found  within 
103  feet  of  the  surface. 

Present  work. — With  the  beginning  of  work  on  the  shaft  the 
Gulf  company  put  up  a  large  saw-mill  plant  and  has  with  it  cut 
all  the  timber  for  its  buildings.  To  the  saw  mill  has  been  added 
a  small  machine-shop  and  a  barrel-factory.  To  facilitate  trans- 
portation a  short  canal  has  been  dug  from  Myrtle  bayou  along 
the  eastern  side  of  the  island.  At  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit, 
it  had  reached  the  southern  end  of  the  shaft  building  and  it  was 
proposed  to  extend  it  past  the  saw  mill  to  the  site  of  the  evapo- 
rating plant  and  storehouse. 

Wax  and  Doctor's  bayous  give  deep  water  communication  with 
the  Atchafalya  and  the  Atchafalya  afford  a  fair  depth  of  water 
both  to  the  Mississippi  and  to  the  Gulf. 

*  Letter  from  Capt.  A.  F.  Lucas. 


ni]  The  Five  Islands  :   Belle  Isle  -223 

It  is  proposed  besides  mining  the  rock  salt  to  make  a  fine 
grade  of  table  salt  by  artificial  evaporation  and  to  that  end  a 
large  plant  is  to  be  erected  south  of  the  saw-mill. 

The  company  has  purchased  a  tug  and  two  steamboats  and 
with  the  construction  of  the  floating  elevators  it  proposes  to 
build,  will  soon  become  a  very  active  factor  in  the  salt  market 

Geology 

Surface  geology. — With  the  exception  of  a  little  area  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Shaft  hill  the  whole  island  is  covered  with  grayish 
yellow  to  yellowish  brown  clay.  The  clay  is  particularly  well 
developed  on  the  western  part  of  the  island.  Southeast  of  Willow 
pond  quite  a  number  of  springs  ooze  out  of  the  ground.  This 
patch  of  ground  though  well  elevated  above  the  sea  marsh  is 
covered  with  salt  grasses.  A  spring  which  was  situated  south 
of  the  Shaft  house,  where  the  saw-mill  now  stands  was  regarded 
with  high  faver  by  the  inhabitants  on  account  of  a  medicinal  oil 
which  it  produced. 

On  the  eastern  slope  of  Shaft  hill  are  small  outcrops  of  a  gray, 
iron  stained,  rather  soft,  broken,  barytic  limestone,  which  occa- 
sionally shows  galena  and  chalcopyrite.  This  is  doubtless  the 
crumbled  or  shattered  limestone  which  Thomassy  mentions*  and 
which  Hilgard  correlated  with  the  Cote  Blanche  concretions. f 
It  is  evidently  quite  different  from  the  concretions.  This  lime- 
stone is  well  exposed  in  a  number  of  pits  dug  several  years  ago 
by  the  U.  S.  Engineers  in  an  attempt  to  find  stone  suitable  for 
jetty  work.  Near  by,  sand  and  gravel  come  to  the  surface.  The 
gravel  has  been  dug  for  concrete  work  around  the  works. 

The  sand  pit  fossils. — About  150  yards  from  this  outcrop  a  sand 
pit  shows  a  very  interesting  section,  with  fossils.  The  material 
dips  about  23°,  north   15°  west. 


*  Geologic  Pratique,  p.  So. 

f  Am.  Jour.   Sci.,  2d   Series,  vol.  47,  p.  85,  1869  ;  Smith.  Contr.,  vol,    23, 
separate  No.  248,  p.  20,  1892. 


224  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Sand  Pit  Section. 

(Elevation  of  top  of  section  22  feet  A.  T. ) 

I'eet       In 

1.  Surface  soil.     Dark  humus  stained  cla}' o         6 

2.  Mottled  gray  to  yellowish  brown  clay 2         6 

3.  Mottled  gray  and  brown  clay  grading  below  into 

finely  laminated  gray  clay 4-7  o 

4.  Massive  dark  gray  clay i  o 

5.  Black  clay  with  iron  pyrite 1-3  o 

6.  Black  shell  conglomerate o  8 

7.  Irregular  bedded  brown  to  white   sand  with  clay 

pockets  and  traces  of  sulphur 2-5         o 

The  fossils  in  layer  6  are  very  poorly  preserved  but  so  far  as 
they  can  be  identified  indicate  a  cold  water  fauna  different  from 
the  warm  water  fauna  of  the  Pliocene.  All  species  seem  to  be 
represented  on  the  Gulf  coast  to-day  and  we  are  inclined  to 
regard  it  as  Pleistocene  although  it  approaches  some  phases  of 
the  Chesapeake  Miocene  rather  closely.  The  following  is  a  list 
of  species : 

Ostrea  virginica,  Corbula  sp. 

Lithopaga,  cf.  caiidigera,  Mactra  sp. 

Scapharca  transversa,  Luciyia  sp. 

Gnathodon  cjnieatus,  Vetius  ca7icellata, 

Dosinia  sp.  Semelc  truncata, 

Cardiuni  rniiricatum,  Fnlgiir  canalictilatuni. 

The  wells. — A  fairly  complete  idea  of  the  substructure  of  the 
island  may  be  gained  from  the  records  of  the  thirteen  holes 
drilled  on  the  island.  Eight  of  these  are  given  on  the  adjoining 
(Plate  22).*     In   hole   number   10  gas  was  struck  at  a  depth  of 

*A11  the  facts  we  possess  regarding  the  other  five  holes  are  as  follows  : 

2.  Quicksand  400  feet. 

3.  Salt  at  a  depth  of  276  feet. 
5.     200  feet  deep.     No  salt. 

8.  Sand  175  feet.     No  salt. 

9.  0-248.     No  record  248  feet. 
248-500.     Salt  252  feet. 
500-748.     Salt  crystals  248  feet. 

The  records  of  all  the  sections  shown  on  Plate  22  and  also  hole  No.  9  were 
obtained  from  Mr.  C.  B.  Weiser  of  the  Gulf  company.  The  others  are  from 
Capt.  A.  V .  Ivucas,  who  supterintended  the  drilling. 


GEOI^OGICAI.   SuRVKY   of   LotJISIANA,    Rkport,    [899 
r^"         1  4  6  7  10  ShaH 


Pirate  22 

12  13 


-  10 

-  20 


'& 


i:f^ 


i 


fi      Sri 


l^g 


^? 


» 


LEGEND 


Sand 

Sand  and  gravel 

Gravel 

Gravel  and  clay 

Clay 

Blue  clay 


t3_^.3^        Black  shaly  claj' 

1^,      I  .Rarite,  splialenle,  galena 

l~  "  I  and  limestone  bowlders 

^^fjj  Haritic  limestone 

[^^^  Salt  and  clay 

;>./J  Salt  and  black  shaly  clay 


Belle  Isle  M^cll  Sections 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Rkport,'i899 


Plate  23 


GALENA 

(Belle  Isle) 


ROCK   SALT 

(Belle  Ible) 


SPHALERITE 
(Belle  Isle) 


CRYSTALLINE    SALT 
(Petite  Aiise) 


IMPURE   ROCK  SALT 

(Belle  Isle) 


N 

o.     Depths 

I 

O-     4 

2 

4-   13 

3 

13-  30 

4 

30-  40 

5 

40-  63 

6 

63-  68 

in]  The  Five  Islands  :    Belle  Isle  225 

1 20  feet  in  suflficient  quantities  to  throw  sand  all  over  the  derrick. 
It  is  now  bubbling  out  the  hole  where  it  can  be  easily  collected 
and  ignited.  A  small  amount  of  gas  and  oil  was  struck  in  hole 
number  four.  The  last  three  are  probably  of  greater  interest 
than  the  others. 

Sedioji  at  the  shaft. — The  shaft  was  siink  on  the  site  of  hole  1 1 
so  we  can  feel  quite  sure  of  the  material  there. 

Shaft 

(Elevation  above  tide  7  feet) 

Feet      In. 

Clay 4         o 

Hard  sand 9         o 

Blue  clay 17         o 

Blue  clay  and  sand 10         o 

Hard  clay  and  gravel 23         o 

Blue  clay  with  crystalline  masses,  from 

the  size  of  marble  to  a  man's  head,  of 

baryte,  galena,  sphalerite,  pyrite  and 

chalcopyrite 5         o 

7.     68-  95  Blue  clay  and  shells 27         o 

8-     95-  96/13       Rock.       Impure  black  limestone  and 

baryte i  6 

9.  96^-103      Blue  clay  with  masses  of  baryte  near 

the  base 6         6 

10.  103-116        Dark    colored    clay    with    large    salt 

crystals 14  o 

11.  1 1 6-1 1 7         Dark  colored  clay  with  oil i  o 

12.  117-142        Salt  with  dark  colored  clay 25  o 

13.  142-162         Discolored  salt 35  o 

14.  162-163        White   limestone o  8 

15.  163-175*      Dirty  salt  becoming  white 12  o 

Galena  fro772  shaft. — The  occurrence  of  galena  and  associated 

minerals  here  is  even  more  surprising  than  the  occurrence  of  rock 
salt.  It  adds  another  locality  to  the  lead  deposits  of  the  Missis- 
sippi valley.     The  crystals  are  all  sharp  and   show  no  signs  of 

*This  was  the  depth  of  the  shaft  at  the  time  of  the  writer's  departure, 
May  19,  1899.  O 


226  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect, 

erosion.  (See  IMate  23.)  Numerous  pieces  were  scattered  over 
the  dump  at  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Gill,  of  Cornell  University,  who  has  very  kindly 
examined  and  identified  the  specimens  collected,  states  that  the 
galena  shows  no  silver,  which  is  common  in  vein  deposits,  and 
that  it  therefore  seems  more  probable  that  this  represents  a 
deposition  from  sea  water  by  chemical  action.  The  manner  of 
occurrence,  scattered  through  a  bed  of  blue  clay,  strongly 
emphasizes   this  conclusion. 

Numerous  finds  of  galena  are  reported  from  different  parts  of 
the  State  especially  in  the  northern  parishes.  These  when 
looked  into,  have  always  shown  that  the  lead  was  not  in  situ  but 
had,  without  a  reasonable  doubt,  been  carried  there  by  the 
Indians.     Such  an  explanation  will  not  apply  to  this  deposit. 

Salt. — The  salt  occurs  in  several  forms  ;  large  transparent 
crystals  one  to  eight  or  more  inches  long,  either  in  masses,  where 
interference  has  prevented  the  formation  of  perfect  cr3'stals  or 
scattered  through  dark  colored  clay,  as  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
salt  mass  ;  smaller  crystals  in  masses  having  the  appearance  of 
rather  coarse  crushed  ice  or  inclosing  pieces  of  dark  colored  clay 
which  gives  the  salt  a  dirty  earth-like  appearance.  Occasionally 
the  large  salt  crystals  show  crystals  of  gypsum. 

Unlike  any  of  the  other  islands  the  salt  when  first  struck  on 
Belle  Isle  is  very  impure  ;  its  purity  seeming  to  increase  with 
the  depth.  The  black  material  which  is  abundant  enough  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  salt  to  color  the  whole  mass  and  which  shows 
some  traces  of  oil,  brings  to  mind  the  thin  black  bands  in  the 
Petite  Anse  salt.  The  resemblance  is  further  heightened  by  the 
fact  that  the  black  salt  on  Petite  Anse  shows  about  seven  per 
cent,  of  insoluble  matter,  part  of  which  is  gypsum*  and  the 
Belle  Isle  black  salt  shows  about  the  same  amount  of  insoluble 
matter,  part  of  which,  although  a  much  smaller  part,  is  gypsum. 

Analyses  of  salt. — Two  samples  of  salt  from  Belle  Isle  have 
been  analyzed  under  direction  of  Mr.  R.  E.  Blouin  of  the  Experi- 
ment Stations.  To  these  records  we  have  added  for  the  purpose 
of  comparison  three  analyses  of  salt  produced  by  evaporation  of 
sea  water. 


*Notes  on  the  Great  Salt  Deposit  of  Petite  Anse,  Louisiana  (Abstract)  by 
Dr.  H.  C.  Bolton.     New  York  Acad.  Sci.  Trans.,  vol.  6,  p.  125,  1888. 


Ill] 


The  Five  Islands  :  Belle  Isle 

Analyses  of  Salt. 


227 


Black  salt 

Belle  Isle 

Layer  12 

(120  ft.) 

White  salt 
Belle  Isle 

(175  ft.) 

Setubal  or 
St.  Ubes, 
Portugal 
(Henry). 

Turk's 
Island, 
West 
Indies 
(Cook). 

Martha's 

Vineyard, 

Mass. 

(Goess- 

mann). 

Sodium  chloride 

92.750 

.201 
.067 

.837 
1.804 

.500 
3-325 

96405 

3-051 
.074 

.226 
-025 
-059 

96.00 

2.35 
-30 
.45 

96.76 

1.56 

.14 

.64 

94-71 

1.42 

.24 

•19 

3-24 

Calcium  sulphate 

Magnesium  chloride 

Magnesium  sulphate 

Magnesium  carbonate 

Sodium  carbonate 

Sodium  sulphate 

Calcium  carbonate 

Calcium  chloride 

Ferric  and  Aluminic  Oxides 

(Fe,  0,  and  Al,  OJ 

Water.    .: "... 

•90 

.90 

Insoluble  matter 

These  analyses  show  a  marked  difference  between  the  black 
and  white  salt  of  Belle  Isle  and  a  close  similarity  between  the 
white  salt  and  salt  obtained  from  sea  water  by  evaporation. 

Limestone  in  salt. — The  white  chalk-like  limestone,  eight  inches 
thick  struck  74  feet  below  the  top  of  the  salt  shows  no  traces  of 
organic  remains.  It  is  composed  of  extremely  small  globular 
grains,  like  an  oolite,  only  the  grains  are  much  smaller.  The 
presence  of  a  limestone  of  this  type  in  the  midst  of  a  salt  deposit 
possibly  indicates  a  continental  movement  of  considerable  mag- 
nitude during  the  deposition  of  the  salt. 

Section  of  hole  No.  12.  About  150  yards  northwest  of  the  shaft 
and  near  the  old  U.  S.  Engineers  pits  in  hole  12.     It  is  ten  feet 

higher  than  the  shaft. 

Hole  No.  12. 
Depths  Feet 

0-12  Clay  and  sandy  barytic  limestone : 12 

12-21  Blue  clay g 

21-  53  Blue  clay  with  indurate  dark  colored  clay 32 

53-  80  Dark  colored  clay 27 

80-103  Dark  colored  clay  with  hard  bands 33 

103-130  Dark  colored  clay 21 

1 30-1 3 1  Hard  bowlder  (probably  similar  to  6  of  the  shaft 

section) i 

131-138  Dark  colored  clay 7 

138-213  Salt  with  dark  colored  clay 75 


No. 
I 

2 

3 

4 
5 
6 

7 


228 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana 


[Sect. 


Section  of  hole  No.  ij. — Fossils  were  found  in  two  layers  of  hole 
No.  13  which  was  sunk  a  short  distance  north  of  Willow  pond. 

Section  of  Hole  No.  /j. 

Depths  1^'eet 

o-ioo  Clay 100 

1 00- 1 30  Sand 30 

130-135  Clay  and  shells 5 

135-145  Sand 10 

145-150  Hard  clay  and  shells 5 

1 50-200  Sand 50 

200-2 16  V^ery  hard  gravel 16 

2 1 6-2  5o  Hard  sand  and  gravel .  54 


No 

I 
2 

3 
4 
5 
6 

7 


-*-^*.^,^^.s-*— ^ 


i^TA    Galena,  sphalerite  and  barite  bowlders 
£^    Salt''  -^      ■■ 


7000  ^     TZOO 


Fig.  ^—Section  cross  Belle  Isle,  along  line  A-B,  pi.  20. 

Conclusions. — All  the  data  collected,  while  throwing  little  or  no 
light  on  the  age  of  the  salt  deposit  and  further  complicating  the 
questions  involved  by  the  introduction  of  a  deposit  of  galena, 
baryte  and  sphalerite  have  afforded  rather  satisfactory  evidence 
on  the  manner  of  the  formation  of  Belle  Isle.  A  map  showing 
the  contour  of  the  salt,  constructed  on  data  furnished  by  the 
drill  holes,  shows  an  oblong  dome-shaped  mass,  longest  along  its 
northeast  and  southwest  axis,  having  just  the  same  trend  as  the 
hills  ;  but  differing  from  the  hills  in  the  fact  that  the  dome  of 
the  salt  is  situated  on  the  northeast  of  the  island.      (See  plate  24. ) 

The  shaft  shows  clearly  that  this  dome  shape  is  due  to  uplift 
and  not  erosion.     When  the  salt  was  first  struck  in  the  shaft  it 


liij  The  Five  Islands  :    Cote  Blanche  229 

was  in  the  form  of  a  distinct  anticline  and  although  the  shaft  has 
not  followed  the  dome  of  the  anticline  exactly,  it  being  now  on 
one. side  of  the  shaft  and  now  on  the  other,  its  presence  was 
always  clearly  indicated.  A  cross-section  of  the  island  from 
A-B,  Plate  21,  made  by  connecting  the  data  furnished  by  the 
shaft,  the  different  wells  along  the  line  of  the  section,  and  the 
surface  outcrops  show  a  very  distinct  anticline,  or  better, 
elongated  dome  (Fig.  6).  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  similarity 
of  the  dip  of  the  shell  layer  and  that  of  the  salt.  This  would 
seem  to  fix  the  time  of  uplift.  The  shells  are  all  species  now 
living  in  the  Gulf.  They  may  be  regarded  as  representing  the 
marine  facies  of  the  Port  Hudson  of  Hilgard.  This  would 
indicate  that  in  very  recent  time  the  Gulf  coast  has  been  the 
scene  of  crustal  movements. 

Archeology 

Shell  heap. — Excavations  for  a  canal  near  the  shaft  on  the 
northeastern  corner  of  the  island,  have  revealed  just  in  the  edge 
of  the  present  sea-marsh  and  covered  by  from  one  to  three  feet 
of  its  deposits  a  kitchen-midden  or  kitchen  refuse  heap  composed 
of  shells  of  Gnathodon  cuneatus,  Ostrea  virginica,  an  occasional 
representative  of  the  Uyiionidce  and  vertebrate  remains.  As 
exposed  along  the  side  of  the  canal  the  heap  is  150  to  200  feet 
long  and  three  feet  thick.  A  human  skeleton  was  taken  out 
near  the  northern  end. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  the  shell  heap  are  the  numer- 
ous little  baked  clay  objects  found  scattered  through  it.  Frag- 
ments of  pottery  are  relatively  scarce.  These  little  objects 
average  about  two  inches  in  diameter.  A  common  form  has  the 
shape  of  two  cones  placed  base  to  base.  This  pattern  is  varied 
by  making  four  indentations  around  its  equator.  Others  are 
irregular  spheres  with  four  elongated  indentations  about  them 
medially.  The  way  thej^  fit  in  the  hand  and  their  shape  would 
suggest  that  they  were  used  in  playing  some  game. 

The  location  of  the  mound  on  the  edge  of  the  marsh  and  not 
on  the  island  or  the  edge  of  some  bayou  and  its  being  covered 
with  marsh  deposits,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  subsidence 
which  has  been  progressing  on  the  Gulf  coast  for  the  last  period 
is  still  going  on  at  a  fairly  rapid  rate. 


230  Geologicai.  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

C6te  Blanche 
Location  and  Topography 

Location. — Although  not  the  central  island,  C6te  Blanche,  or 
"Cap  Blanche"  of  the  early  Spanish  cartographers,  occupies 
the  geographical  center  of  the  Five  Islands.  It  is  near  the 
center  of  the  north  shore  of  C6te  Blanche  bay  in  township  15 
south,  range  5  east.  Access  is  had  to  the  island  by  means  of  a 
raised  dirt-way  leading  through  the  marsh  from  the  land  of 
Cypremort  point. 

Topography . — Cote  Blanche  is  nearl}'  circular  and  in  point  of 
size  is  the  third  of  the  islands,  having  an  area  of  1400  acres. 
On  one  side  the  waves  of  Cote  Blanche  bay  have  formed  a  bluff 
about  fift}^  feet  high.  To  this  wave-formed  bluff  is  probably 
due  the  earh'  appearance  of  this  island  on  the  Spanish  maps. 
It  is  much  less  rugged  than  either  Petite  Anse  or  Grande  Cote. 
The  deep  V-shaped  hollows  of  the  centers  of  those  two  islands 
are  entirely  wanting  here.  On  the  south  side,  east  of  the  bluff, 
a  long  arm  of  sea-marsh  runs  up  into  the  island.  Rising  abruptly 
from  this  is  Oak  hill  the  highest  hill  on  the  island.*  North  of 
Oak  hill  is  a  shallow  depression  in  the  tops  of  the  hills  which 
was  pointed  out  as  the  bed  of  Clear  lake.  Time  was  when  this 
was  a  small  pond  something  like  300  feet  in  diameter  and  3  feet 
deep.     This  is  the  onh^  trace  of  a  natural  pond  on  Cote  Blanche. 

Geology 

Salt  investigations. — The  recent  salt  excitement  which  has 
caused  the  deposits  of  the  islands  to  be  investigated  has  not  yet 
had  its  effect  on  Cote  Blanche.  A  recent  letter  from  Mr.  F.  F. 
Myles  reports  that  he  intends  to  prospect  the  island  in  the  near 
future. 

Immediately  after  the  discovery  of  salt  on  Petite  Anse  in  1862 
numerous  shallow  pits  were  sunk  on  the  island  in  a  vain  search 
for  salt.  There  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  that  the  salt  is  there. 
All  that  is  required  is  deep  wells. 

Surface  geology. — The  lack  of  rugose  topography  and  well  sec- 
tions renders  the  exact  information  on  the  geology  of  the  island 


*No  altitude  determinations  were  made  here,  but  at  the  time  the  writers 
estimated  it  as  about  icx)  feet.  Hilgard  (Smith  Contr.  No.  248  p.  10)  gives 
it  as  180  feet  on  authority  of  the  coast  survey-. 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands  :    Graxd  Cote  231 

not  quite  so  full  as  could  be  desired.  There  are  but  two  sources 
of  such  information  ;  the  sea-cliff  and  an  artesian  well  near  the 
sugar  house.  The  surface  is  composed  almost  entirelj^  of  brown- 
ish yellow  loani}"  cla^-.  At  one  point  near  the  northeast  end  of 
the  island  a  gully  exposes  a  little  rather  cla^'C}-  sand  with  some 
gravel  scattered  through  it. 

The  sea-cliff  sectio7i. — The  sea- cliff  section  has  changed  since 
Hilgard's  visit  in  1869  as  one  would  naturally  expect ;  the  con- 
stant encroachment  of  the  waves  on  the  land  would  exhibit  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  same  beds  and  in  such  irregularly  bedded 
material  a  fairly  marked  change  maj-  be  looked  for. 

^       Section  at  Sea- cliff 

Feet. 

1.  Light  yellow  surface  clay,  contains  some  lime 11 

2.  Green  or  blush-green  cla^' i 

3.  Reddish,   greasy  looking  joint  clay  with    many  lime- 

stone concretions 7-8 

4.  Very  fine  light  red  silt  with  thin  claj^  partings    about 

every  six  inches.     Looks  like  successive  flood  depos- 
its as  seen  on  the  banks  of  Red  river 11 

5.  Same  as  above  but  with  more  clay 15 

6.  Gra^ash  5^ellow  clay  eroded   in  irregular  forms  by  the 

waves  to  water  level 2 

No  trace  of  fresh  water  shells  could  be  found.  Particles  of 
vegetable  matter  could  be  seen  in  several  layers,  particularly  in 
the  lower  part  of  laj^er  six.  Quite  a  number  of  the  calcareous 
concretions  which  cover  the  beach  were  broken  open  in  a  search 
for  fossils.  Off  the  southwest  corner  of  the  bluff  numerous 
stumps  and  trunks  of  trees  are  seen,  ranging  all  the  wa}^  from 
the  tree  w^hich  has  just  fallen  in  from  a  recent  cave  of  the  bank 
to  the  old  remnants  which  have  been  battling  with  the  waves 
for  man3^3^ears. 

Unfortunateh'  the  data  from  the  Sugar  house  well  are  not  ac- 
cessible at  present. 

Grande  C6te 

I/OCATION 

Methods  of  commu7iication  with  the  main  land. — Until  the  early 
sixties  the  only  way  to  reach  Grande  Cote  or  (Weeks'  Island) 
from  the  main  land  was  by  a  canoe  through  Week's  bayou  from 
Prairie  Au  Large  below  New   Iberia.     All  the  products  of  the 


232  Gkological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

island  were  shipped  by  light-draught  schooners  which  could  enter 
the  bay.  Finally,  at  a  very  considerable  expense,  Mr. Weeks  con- 
nected the  island  with  the  main  land  of  Cypremort  Point  by  a 
raised  dirt-way.     This  rendered  access  to  the  island  much  easier. 

Surrounding  country. — The  island  overlooks,  on  its  western 
side,  an  arm  of  Vermillion  bay  called  Weeks'  ba5^  Two  bayous 
approach  the  island  near  enough  to  'furnish  convenient  landing 
places.  Near  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  island,  Garrett's 
bayou  is  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  timber.  The  largest 
bayou  and  the  one  which  affords  the  best  landing  place  is  Weeks' 
bayou  near  the  northwest  corner  of  the  island.  It  is  probably 
more  than  three  hundred  feet  across  and  quite  deep.  Were  it 
not  for  the  shallowness  of  Vermillion  bay,  w^hich  prevents  the 
passage  of  vessels  of  even  moderate  draught,  water  transportation 
of  the  salt  would  be  quite  feasible.  Here  is  the  remains  of  an 
old  pier,  a  relic  of  the  days  when  water  transportation  was  the 
onl}'  thing  possible.  This  bayou  skirts  the  island  for  a  little  over 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  then  turns  northw^estern  and  finally  south- 
westward  into  Vermillion  bay.  On  three  sides  of  the  island  is  a 
trembling  sea  marsh  ;  on  the  eastern  side  is  a  swamp  which  with- 
out the  "causeway  '"  would  be  utterly  impassible. 

Topography 

Shape  and  area. — Grande  Cote  is  almost  circular  with  an 
indentation  in  the  shore  line  on  either  side  a  little  above  the 
center.  The  area  as  shown  by  the  land  office  records  is  1907.69 
acres.     It  is  the  largest  of  the  islands. 

Central  ridge. — The  "Devil's  Backbone,"  the  principle  topo- 
graphical feature,  extends  north  from  the  mine  store  to  near 
boring  No.  2,  thus  occupying  the  central  part  of  the  island  and 
having  a  general  trend  a  little  east  of  north.  The  slopes  of  the 
gullies  on  either  side  of  this  dividing  ridge  are  almost  perpen- 
dicular and  from  20  to  60  feet  in  height.  Occasionally  the  divide 
is  no  wider  than  a  wagon  bed  and  near  the  northern  end  is  almost 
severed  in  two  or  three  places.  Tliis  ridge  is  from  100  to 
135  feet  high  and  contains  the  highest  point  on  the  island. 
From  the  mine  store  it  turns  eastward  and  then  northward 
giving  the  whole  ridge  the  shape  of  a  fishhook  (Plate  25). 

The  lakes. — In  the  space  thus  inclosed  by   steep  hills  is  Lake 


Geological  Survkv  of  Louisiana,  Report,   1899 


Plate  24 


Contour  Map  of  the  Salt  [deposit  on  Belle  Isle.     Iilevalion  given  infect  beloiv 

Gulf  Level 

By  a.  C.  Veatch 


Xi>fi^-f^.^ 


O.KOl.OC-.ICAl.   Sl'RVKV   OK    LOUISIANA,    RUPORT.     I M99 


■rupi>!:tii/>liii  Sketch  Map  of  Uraiulc  I  oU 
liv  A.  C.  Vkatch 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,   iS 


^ 


^ 


^ 


^   u. 


L  E  G  E  N  n 


[,;. , ;  I   Sand 

[\^  Sand  and  gravel 

^  Oiavd 


[|-V-T^      Blue  clay 

p=^  rj  Sand  and  clay 

h^H  Lignite 

Ei3  Salt 


Plate  27 


1  13 


Gra>:de  Citt  "W/  5frf;o„i 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands  :    Grande  Cote  233 

valley.  This  is  a  small,  comparatively  level  plain  about  35  feet 
above  tide.  It  now  contains  three  wooded  lakes,  remnants  of 
a  much  larger  one  which  has  been  partially  destroyed  by  the 
down-cutting  of  the  outlet.  The  most  northern  of  these  little 
lakes  is  660  yards  long  and  a  fourth  as  broad.  It  was  reported 
to  be  bottomless  but  careful  soundings  showed  a  very  gentlj^ 
sloping  bottom  nowhere  more  than  eight  feet  deep.  The  edge 
is  fringed  with  reeds  and  trees  but  the  center  is  open. 

There  are  two  other  natural  ponds  on  the  island  :  one  near  the 
sugar  house,  Sugar  House  pond,  has  had  its  level  raised  about 
two  feet  by  a  dam.  Its  depth  is  about  the  same  as  the  larger  one 
in  Lake  valley.  It  is  situated  in  the  pit  of  a  great  amphitheatre. 
The  other,  Lily  pond,  is  near  the  Weeks  residence  and  like  the 
others  occupies  the  pit  of  an  amphitheatre  of  rather  low  hills. 

HisTORV  OF  Mining  Operations 

Early  7vork. — Sharing  with  the  other  islands  the  excitement 
produced  by  the  discovery  of  rock-salt  on  Petite  Anse  in  1862 
and  further  stimulated  by  the  high  price  of  salt  at  that  time  a 
few  wells  were  dug  in  search  of  salt,  but  without  success. 

Later  zvork. — Following  the  discovery  of  salt  on  Cote  Carline 
in  1895  and  on  Belle  Isle  in  1896,  Mr.  F.  F.  Myles  undertook  the 
exploration  of  Grande  Cote  as  a  private  enterprise.  In  March 
1897  with  Mr.  N.  Conrad  in  charge  of  the  drilling  he  started  the 
first  hole  near  the  sugar  house.  Conrad  drilled  five  holes, 
reporting  salt  in  the  fourth  at  a  depth  of  276  feet,  June  25,  1897. 
In  July,  the  same  year,  Capt.  A.  F.  Lucas  who  oversaw  the  work 
on  Cote  Carline  and  Belle  Isle  was  put  in  charge.  He  struck 
salt  in  well  No.  7  at  a  depth  of  205  feet  late  in  August.  In  all, 
fourteen  holes  were  drilled  in  this  preliminary  examination.  In 
March  i8g8  the  Myles  Salt  company  was  organized  and  fourteen 
additional  holes  were  drilled  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Geo. 
Cowie,  to  determine  the  best  location  for  a  shaft.  In  July  1898, 
it  was  started  on  the  site  of  hole  No.  24  where  the  salt  approached 
nearest  the  surface. 

After  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  quicksand  and  by  employing 
a  portion  of  the  large,  sectioned  tubing  made  to  penetrate  the 
quicksand  overlying  the  sulphur  deposit  of  Calcasieu  the  shaft 
had,   at  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit,   reached  the  salt.     The 


234  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

diflSculty  then,  on  account  of   the  dissoluble  nature  of  the  salt, 

was  to  make  a  watertight  joint  between  the  tubing  and  the  salt. 

As  soon  as  this  is  accomplished  the  intention  is  to  erect  the 

shaft  house  and  build  a  switch  from  the  Cypremort  branch  of  the 

Southern  Pacific. 

Geology 

Surface  geology. — Like  Cote  Blanche  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
island  is  covered  with  a  brownish  yellow  soil.  In  places,  notably 
in  the  deep  gorges  along  the  Devil's  Backbone  and  indeed  in 
nearly  all  hollows  going  into  Lake  valley  the  upper  stratum  of 
clay  has  been  cut  through  exposing  the  underlying  sands,  and 
sometimes  gravel.  Kast  of  the  larger  lake  is  a  sandpit  which 
furnishes  sand  for  the  surrounding  country.  Springs  are  com- 
mon on  the  Northern  slopes  of  the  island. 

The  wells. — The  twenty-eight  well  sections  (shown  on  Plates 
27  and  28)  show  very  little  variety  in  the  subterranean 
structure  of  the  island.  There  is  commonly  a  surface  layer  of 
clay  from  a  few  inches  to  30  or  40  feet  thick  and  then  sand  and 
gravel  down  to  the  salt.  In  two  wells  No.  9  and  No.  17  layers 
of  lignite,  five  feet  thick  in  the  first  and  three  feet  in  the  second, 
were  struck  just  above  the  salt.  In  many  of  the  wells  the 
hydrostatic  pressure  is  sufficient  to  force  the  water  almost  to  the 
surface  and  in  well  No.  6  it  is  sufficient  to  lift  the  water  above 
the  top  of  the  pipe  and  form  a  flowing  well. 

The  shape  and  position  of  the  salt  mass. — The  salt  on  Grande 
Cote  forms  an  elongate  dome,  longest  along  its  north  and  south 
diameter  (Plate  29).  It  occupies  the  western  side  of  the  island 
and  appears  to  extend  a  little  west  of  the  main  ridge.  No  borings 
have  been  made  along  the  ridge  so  that  we  can  not  positively  say 
that  the  salt  does  not  extend  in  that  direction.  Well  No.  2 did 
not  find  salt  at  212  feet  but  no  borings  have  been  made  between 
it  and  No.  9.  Whether  the  dome  shape  of  the  salt,  well  shown 
by  Plate  29  and  the  cross-sections  of  the  island  Plate  30,  really 
indicate  a  dome  or  whether  its  present  shape  is  due  to  the 
erosion  of  the  edge  of  an  upturned  fault  block  or  to  the  erosion 
undisturbed  material,  could  n6t  be  determined  in  any  direct  man- 
ner. All  data  collected  would  however  tend  to  disprove  the  last 
supposition.     The  shaft,  at  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit,  had  not 


ni]  The  Five  Islands  :    Grand  Cote  235 

entered  the  salt  far  enough  to  determine  the  direction  and 
intensity  of  the  dip. 

Origin  0/  the  lakes. — Thomassy  in  his  visit  to  the  island  noticed 
the  upland  lakes.  Sugar  House  pond  he  considered  the  "orifice 
where  the  h3'drothermal  forces  made  their  principal  eruption;" 
the  others  are  craters  of  depression  similar  to  those  which  have 
given  rise  to  the  numerous  little  lakes  of  southern  Louisiana,* 
In  the  light  of  our  present  knowledge  of  the  islands  this  expla- 
nation can  hardly  be  accepted,  for  the  phenomena  shown  here 
cannot  be  confounded  with  that  exhibited  by  the  mud-volcanoes 
of  the  passes  of  the  Mississippi.  The  similarity  in  all  these  lake 
basins  point  to  a  common  origin. 

The  observed  facts  would  point  to  four  different  ways  in  which 
the  lakes  might  have  been  formed  :  (i)  by  faulting  or  landslips 
produced  by  orographic  movements,  (2)  by  faulting  or  landslips 
produced  by  the  removal  of  the  salt  by  subterranean  waters, 
(3)  by  the  formation  of  sink  holes  like  those  of  limestone  regions 
and  the  subsequent  stopping  of  the  basal  outlet,  (4)  by  the  irregu- 
lar filling  of  antecedent  drainage  channels  by  Columbia  loam. 

Landslips  in  the  sands  and  clays  occasioned  by  the  folding  or 
faulting  of  the  salt  bed,  even  with  the  aid  of  subsequent  erosion, 
would  hardly  be  likely  to  produce  the  rounded  amphitheatre- 
shaped  lake  valleys. 

Many  of  the  local  faults,  anticlines  and  sink  holes  in  northern 
New  York  have  been  formed  in  the  second  way  by  the  removal 
of  the  soluble  matter  from  the  beds  of  the  Onondaga  salt  and 
waterlime  groups  by  subterranean  waters  coming  from  a  distance. 
It  is  possible,  though  hardly  probable,  that  the  lake  valleys  on 
the  islands  have  been  formed  in  the  same  way.  The  lack  of 
continuous  layers  of  impervious  strata  to  confine  and  conduct 
the  underground  waters  would  .strongly  oppose  this  theory. 

The  third  necessitates  the  assumption  of  a  very  marked  subsi- 
dence in  the  region  in  ver}-  recent  times,  an  assumption  which 
is  supported  by  the  partiall}'-  drowned  stream  channels  of  the 
coastal  regions.  If  the  salt  mass  was  elevated  well  above  the 
sea,  say  200  to  500  feet  above  its  present  level,  water  percolating 
down  from  the  surface  of  the  island  would  dissolve  the  salt  and 


*  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiana,  p.  82,  i860. 


236  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

emerge  in  the  form  of  salt  springs  at  or  near  sea-level.  The 
removal  of  the  salt  by  water  would  form  caverns.  Dirt  and  sand 
would  naturalh'  be  carried  by  the  water  into  these  caverns  in  the 
salt  and  finally  a  large  funnel-shaped  opening  would  be  produced 
on  the  surface.  Such  sink  holes  are  common  in  limestone 
regions  and  quite  a  number  have  been  verj-  recently  produced 
artificialh'  on  Petite  Anse.  The  galleries  and  rooms  hollowed 
out  by  man  in  mining  the  salt  correspond  to  the  caverns  which 
would  have  been  produced  by  water  if  the  salt  were  elevated 
enough  to  give  the  water  an  outlet  above  sea-level.  Water  run- 
ning into  these  chambers  through  natural  crevices  in  the  salt 
would  soon  enlarge  them  to  good  sized  holes  when  the  dirt  and 
sand  and  gravel  would  follow  giving  rise  to  a  great  funnel-shaped 
opening  which  would  tend  to  enlarge  with  ever}'  succeeding  rain. 
As  the  water  is  kept  pumped  out  of  the  mine  the  effect  is  the 
same  as  if  the  salt  stood  90  or  100  feet  higher. 

Now,  if  a  subsidence  should  occur,  the  chambers  and  caverns 
would  become  clogged  with  sand  and  gravel  and  cla}'  because  of 
the  diminished  velocity  of  the  waters.  The  material  washed 
down  from  the  steep  sides  of  the  sink  hole  would  tend  to  fill  it 
and  if  there  was  a  considerable  amount  of  clay  in  the  material 
the  subterranean  outlet  would  become  effectually  stopped. 
Water  would  accumulate  in  the  depression  till  it  reached  the 
lowest  point  in  the  surrounding  rim  of  hills,  flow  over  and  begin 
to  destroy  itself  by  cutting  down  the  outlet.  This  second  stage 
is  shown  in  only  one  of  the  holes  near  the  mine  on  Petite  Anse. 
This  one,  which  is  northeast  of  the  shaft,  has  become  clogged 
with  clay  even  though  the  subterranean  channels  are  still  open 
and  a  little  pond  has  formed  in  its  bottom. 

Lakes  formed  outside  of  the  glacial  limits  by  the  irregular 
filling  of  a  valley  by  loess,  where  the  latter  seemed  to  collect  in  the 
form  of  a  great  levee  across  the  mouih  of  a  valley,  have  been 
noticed  by  the  writer  in  southern  Indiana.*  No  trace  of  such  a 
structure  was  observed  here,  and  further  the  lakes  have  neither 
the  shape  nor  appearance  of  a  dammed  valley,  the  upper  end 
being  commonly  larger  than  the  lower. 


*  Notes  on  the  Ohio  Valley  in  Southern    Indiana.     Jour,  of  Geol.    vol.  6, 
p.  262,  1898. 


in]  The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Anse  237 

Conclusions. — Grande  Cote  shows  the  same  mantle  of  loamy 
clav  that  appears  on  Cote  Blanche  although  erosion  has  pro- 
gressed a  little  further  on  the  former,  due  to  the  formation  of 
sink-holes  and  the  increased  gradients  thus  given  the  side 
streams.  The  lakes  seem  to  represent  old  sink-holes  formed  at 
a  time  when  the  land  stood  higher  than  now  and  whose  clogging 
is  the  result  of  the  subsidence  now  progressing  on  the  Gulf  coast. 

From  what  little  salt  has  been  taken  out  of  the  shaft  and  from 
the  drill  holes,  the  top  layer  of  impure  salt  found  on  Belle  Isle 
seems  to  be  lacking  on  Grand  Cote.  This  is  a  point  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  any  theory  explaining  the  origin  of  the 
dome-shape  of  the  salt  mass. 

ARCHE01.0GY 

Shell  heap. — The  most  interesting  archeological  feature  of  the 
island  is  the  shell  heap  on  Wrecks'  bayou  near  the  landing  place  just 
at  the  edge  of  the  island.  This  was  first  noticed  by  Thomassy.* 
It  is  600  feet  long  between  30  and  60  feet  broad  and  10  feet 
high.  The  southern  end  has  the  shape  of  a  truncated  pyra- 
mid from  which  a  narrow  ridge,  gradually  increasing  in  width, 
extends  to  the  northern  end  of  the  mound,  which  is  almost 
as  wide  as  the  southern.  The  heap  is  composed  almost 
entirely  of  the  common  coast  Gnathodon.  A  few  animal  bones, 
oysters  and  pot-shreds  are  found  scattered  through  the  mass. 
Near  the  northern   end   numerous  skeletons  have  been   found. 

Petite  Anse 

LOCATION 

Geographical  position. — Petite  Anse    island,   Thomas'  island, t 

Marsh's  island.  Salt  island  or  Avery's  island,  as  it  has  been 
called  in  succession,  is  situated  in  township  13  south,  range  5 
and  6  east  of  the  Louisiana  prime  meridian.  It  is  about  ten 
miles  south-southwest  of  New  Iberia  in  Iberia  parish  and  three 
miles  from  the  shores  of  Vermillion  bay. 

Surrounding  Country. — Like  all  the  islands  we  have  thus  far 


*  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane  p.  82. 

+  The  History  and  Geography  of  the  Mississippi  A'alley,  to  which  is 
appended  a  Condensed  Physical  Geography  of  the  Atlantic  United  States 
and  the  whole  of  the  American  Continent,  2d  Edition  by  Timothy  Flint 
vol,  I,  p.  253,  1832. 


238  Geological   Survey   of  Loulsiana  [Sect. 

discussed,  Petite  Anse  is  entirely  surrounded  by  marsh  and 
swamp  land.  On  the  east  and  southeast,  is  a  large  cypress 
swamp  ;  a  continuation  of  the  Cypremort  swamp.  The  level  sea 
marsh  gives  an  unobstructed  view  of  the  prairies  on  the  main 
land  and  on  clear  days,  of  the  Gulf  waters. 

The  western  side  of  the  island  is  skirted  by  the  Bayou  Petite 
Anse.  Here  is  the  landing,  the  boat-house  and  the  old  piers 
used  for  shipping  sugar  and  salt ;  for  Petite  Anse  was  important 
first  as  a  sugar  plantation.  Branches  of  Petite  Anse  bayou  run 
along  the  northern  and  southern  sides  of  the  island  and  finally 
lose  themselves  in  the  marsh. 

Comnitinication  with  the  main  land. — Communication  between 
Petite  Anse  and  the  main  land  was  established  earh^  in  the  pres- 
ent century  by  the  building,  from  the  northernmost  point  of  the 
island,  of  a  raised  dirt  way  or  causeway  through  the  swamp.* 
Communication  with  the  outer  world  by  water  was  greatly  hin- 
dered by  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  Petite  Anse  bayou.  This  was 
partially  overcome  in  1880  bj-  the  digging  of  a  canal  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  bayou  across  the  marshes  to  the  Gulf.  In  1886 
a  branch  of  the  Southern  Pacific  was  completed 'from  New  Iberia 

to  the  island. 

Topography 

Shape  and  area. — Calculations  from  the  land  office  maps  give 
the  area  of  Petite  Anse  as  1,640  acres  or  about  300  acres  less  than 
Grande  Cote.  The  island  is  somewhat  oval,  longest  along  its 
northwest  and  southeast  diameter  and  has  a  marked  indentation 
in  the  southwestern  part.  (See  Plate  19.)  Its  greatest  length 
is  two  and  three-eighths  miles  and  the  narrowest  place  is  barely  a 
mile  and  a  half. 

The  hills. — The  general  relief  of  the  island  is  well  shown  by 
the  topographical  map  (Plate  31)  and  the  model  of  the  island 
(Plate  19).  From  them  it  will  be  seen  that,  while  the  island  has 
no  main  central  line  of  hills  from  which  everything  slopes,  there 
is  a  principal  hill  cluster  with  minor  ones  about  it.  The  main 
hill  cluster  extends  from  southeast  to  northwest,  beginning  with 
Plum  hill,  the  second    highest  on   the  island,   and   extending  to 

*The  Emigrant's  Guide  to  the  Western  and  Southwestern  States  of 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  etc.  by  William  Darby, 
with  map.     New  York,  1818,  p.  68. 


ni]  The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Anse  239 

Prospect  hill  and  Round  Top,  which  occupy  separate  spurs  on 
the  northern  end.  This  dividing  ridge  does  not  fall  below  80 
feet  and  in  the  case  of  Prospect  hill  reaches  a  height  of  152  feet. 
Its  eastern  slope  contains  two  deep  pit-like  depressions  which 
are  occupied  by  wooded  ponds.  A  third  upland  lake  or  pond, 
Willow  pond,  separates  Round  Top  from  Smith's  hill.  From 
Smith's  hill  a  chain  of  hills  follow  the  shore  line  southwest  to 
the  beautiful  residence  of  the  Avery  family  where  it  turns  and 
extends  a  little  way  southeast.  A  fourth  pond  valley,  now 
almost  entirely  drained,  separates  Plum  hill  from  Cherry  hill 
which  with  its  outliers  occupies  the  southernmost  point  of  the 
island.  The  whole  group  assumes  on  the  map  the  appearance 
of  a  great,  rude  capital  E  near  the  middle  of  which  is  Salt  mine 
valley. 

The  lakes. — The  three  upland  lakes  are  essentially  the  same  as 
those  seen  on  Grand  Cote.  Willow  pond  is  reported  to  be  15 
feet  deep  and  is  the  principal ' '  crater  of  elevation  ' '  of  Thomassy. 
Wooded  pond  and  De Vance's  pond  show  remarkably  well  the 
rounded  sink-hole  shape  of  these  valleys.  The  water  level  in 
the  lake  is  between  35  and  40  feet  above  that  of  the  Gulf.  This 
would  show  the  lakes  to  be  of  comparatively  recent  origin  for 
the  streams  have  not  yet,  even  with  this  gradient,  succeeded  in 
cutting  down  their  outlets. 

Near  the  old  mine  are  numerous  great  funnel  shaped  open- 
ings whose  origin  has  been  fully  explained  in  the  discussion  of 
the  origin  of  the  lakes  on  Grande  C6te.  Their  depth  ranges 
from  20  to  60  feet  below  the  surface.  To  prevent  water  from 
running  into  these  holes  and  thus  into  the  mine  a  ditch  has  been 
dug  to  conduct  the  waters  of  the  stream,  which  flows  north  of 
the  office,  into  Willow  pond  branch.  It  originally  emptied  into 
Iron  Mine  run. 

History  of  Mining  Operations 

Early  period:  Prior  to  1862. — The  existence  of  brine  springs 
and  possibly  rock  salt  on  Petite  Anse  was  known  to  the  aborigi- 
nal inhabitants  of  this  country  long  before  it  was  known  to 
white  man.  A  great  deposit  of  potshreds  and  ashes  in  places 
three  feet  thick  and  extending  over  an  area  of  possibly  five  acres 


240  Geological    Survey   of   Louisiana  [Sect. 

testify  to  the  extent  of  salt  operations  here  in  prehistoric  times. 
The  occurrence  of  a  piece  of  basket  work  lying  directly  on  the 
salt  has  given  rise  to  the  supposition  that  the  existence  of  rock- 
salt  was  also  know  to  the  Indians. 

The  springs  were  rediscovered  in  1791  by  John  Hayes  while 
hunting.  In  that  day  of  slow  transportation  salt  was  not  so 
readily  obtained  as  now  and  an  attempt  was  soon  made  to  use 
the  waters  of  these  springs  for  making  salt.  This  was  three 
years  after  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  make  salt  from  the 
brine  springs  of  New  York.*  At  the  time  of  William  Darby's 
visit  (about  18 17)  the  springs  had  been  in  active  operation  for  a 
number  of  years  and  had  supplied,  to  a  large  extent,  the  demands 
of  the  settlements  of  Attakapas  and  Opelougas.f  This  activity 
was  due  to  the  demand  and  increased  value  of  salt  caused  by  the 
war  of  1812.  The  operations  were  conducted  by  John  C.  Marsh 
then  owner  of  the  island. 

War  period:  1862-186J. — Following  the  opening  of  the  Civil 
war,  salt  became  very  scarce  and  John  Marsh  Avery,  the  18  year 
old  son  of  Judge  D.  D.  Avery,  built  up  the  old  salt  works 
established  by  his  grandfather  John  C.  Marsh  in  18 12.  The  demand 
soon  overtaxed  the  capacity  of  the  springs  and  Mr.  Avery  directed 
his  negroes  to  clean  and  deepen  the  salt  wells.  The  negro 
engaged  in  work  on  one  of  the  wells  when  he  had  reached  a  depth 
of  16  feet  cried  up  to  "  Massa  John  "  that  he  had  struck  a  hard 
log.  Mr.  Avery  descended  into  the  well  and  found  the  log  to  be 
a  bed  of  rock  salt.  To  Mr.  Avery  therefore  belongs  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  to  discover  an  important  rock  salt  deposit  in  North 
America,  and,  considering  the  size  and  magnitude  of  the  deposit, 
this  is  no  small  honor.  This  discovery.  May  6,  1862,  had  been 
partially  foreseen  by  Thomassy.  In  i860,  in  speaking  of  the 
brine  springs  on  Petite  Anse  he  states  that  they  are  formed  by  the 
dissolution  of  rock  salt  by  rain  water.  At  the  time  of  Thomassy 's 
second  visit  the  production  was  about  40  baskets  of  rock  salt  per 

*  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States  for  1896.  Non-metallic  Products 
Except  Coal.  vSalt  by  E.  W.  Parker.  i8th  An.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  Sur. 
1896-1897,  Part  V  (con.)  p.  1289. 

fThe  Emigrants  Guide  etc.  by  Wni.  Darby,  New  York  18 18  p.  68. 

X  Geologic  Pratique  p.  78,  i860. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,   1899  Plate  j8 

'      15  16  17  18  19  20  2,  22  23  ShaH  25  26  27  28 


"^ 


m  ^ 


"^ 


LEGEND 


[Z]         S         E] 


sa 


E3 


Sanil  Sand  and  gravel  Gravel  Clay  Sand  and  clay  Lignit 

Gnvide  Cdle  Well  Sections 


C.KOl.or.ICAL    SURVKV    OK    LO.MSIANA,    RK.-..UT,     .S99 


I'l.ATH    39 


Contour  Map  of  the  Satt  Deposit  of  (.'ramie  0    lilrvulioii  giirn  in  JWI  bi/,no  l.iilj  Lc'cl 

J5V  A.  C.  SATcn 


Geological  Survky  of  Louisl^xa.  Kktort,  1S99 


Platk  30 


joo 


100 
O 

N  N 
300 


* 

* 

^ss^S'^^^^*^ 

^=^5^!^^ 

-c 

■•J^,r^ 

^^ 

^4^ 

^*^ 

T=S:^ 

.  ^^^ 

^ 

^ 

^^ 

>..^*L.-^- 

GULF 

-  ■->--  ■ 

■'  ■  ''/" 

'i-i-- 

--^^i 

• 

■ 

tfi/fi. 

jfc 

*'-    S  A 

L  t\> 

I 

V" 

'";••. 

A'' 

yT  \ 

Ml.     ■"  ^    ♦ 

■*"        ^         + 

*2   Mi. 

1  ■. 

y^        ->- 

■^ 

^-  f 

Section    C-D 


306 


Section  E-F 
O'055  Section  of  Grande  Cote 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Anse  241 

day.*  The  salt  was  quarried  from  a  number  of  large  open  pits. 
This  was  a  scene  of  great  activity  until  the  destruction  of  the 
works  b}^  the  Federal  forces  under  General  Banks,  April  17, 1863. f 
The  amount  of  salt  taken  out  is  estimated  between  10,000  and 
30,000  tons. 

Present  period :  i86y-i8gp. — After  this,  little  or  no  work  was 
done  in  mining  the  salt  till  1867  when  Chouteau  and  Price  sunk 
the  first  shaft  8x8  feet  and  83  feet  deep  ;  a  depth  which  was 
afterwards  increased  to  90  feet.  Of  this,  58  feet  were  in  solid 
salt.  At  the  time  of  Hilgard's  visit  (Nov.  1867),  galleries  eight 
to  ten  feet  high  and  25  feet  wide  had  been  driven  east  and  west 
to  a  distance  of  150  feet  each  way.  Work  was  finally  abandoned 
by  Mr.  Chouteau  in  1870  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Price. 

In  1879  the  mines  were  leased  to  the  Galveston  company  and 
in  1880  were  transferred  to  the  American  Salt  company.  The 
American  Salt  company  occupied  Chouteau's  90  foot  shaft  and 
fitted  up  a  mill  at  the  mouth  of  the  shaft  for  crushing  the  salt. 
In  order  to  secure  transportation,  a  canal  was  cut  across  the 
marshes  from  near  the  mouth  of  Petite  Anse  baj^ou  to  the  Gulf, 


*Supplement  a  la  Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane.     He  Petite  Anse. 
Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  France,  2d  series,  vol.  20,  1863,  p.  543 

f  This  date  of  occupation  is  taken  from  extracts  of  the  New  Orleans  Era 
of  April  19,  1863  published  in  the  New  York  Times  April  27.  This  is  quite 
interesting  as  giving  a  very  early  newspaper  discription  of  the  island  and  as 
showing  something  of  the  extent  of  the  mining  operations  at  that  time. 
"  For  the  last  two  months  it"  (the  Steamer  Cornie)  "has  been  constantly 
employed  in  carrying  salt  from  the  mines,  seven  miles  southwest  of  New 
Iberia,  to  the  junction  of  the  Teche  and  Cahawba  Bayous.  From  this  point 
the  salt  has  been  transported  to  Alexandria,  and  by  way  of  Red  River,  to 
Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson  and  other  places  occupied  by  the  rebels."  *  * 
*  *  *  "  Seven  miles  west  of  New  Iberia  and  near  Vermillion  bay,  in  the 
middle  of  a  mud  lake,  thick  grown  with  flag  and  cane,  rises  a  ledge  of  solid 
rock,  the  surface  and  depth  of  which  have  not  yet  been  discovered.  From 
this  mine  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  the  best  salt  has  been  daily  sent 
away  for  the  use  of  the  rebel  army.  Negroes  were  employed  to  blast  and 
break  it  up,  some  being  ground  at  the  mine.  It  is  reported  that  the  rebels 
paid  four  and  a  half  cents  per  pound  for  what  they  took  away.  When  our 
troops  reached  Iberia"  (April  17)  "a  regiment  was  sent  to  destroy  all  tools 
and  machinery  there. " 

See  also  Annual  Cyclopaedia,   1863,      Appleton  and    Co.   New  York  p. 
70,  1867.  P 


242  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

A  tramway  was  built  from  the  mine  and  a  short  embankment 
made  across  the  marsh  to  Petite  Anse  bayou  where  a  number  of 
slips  were  dug.  The  salt  was  loaded  in  lighters  and  carried  down 
the  bayou  to  Vermillion  ba}^  where  it  was  transferred  to  schoon- 
ers. This  did  not  prove  very  satisfactory  because  of  the  cost  of 
transfers  and  accidents  to  the  lighters  and  5chooners  due  to  mud- 
flats and  bars. 

The  salt  was  mined  bychambei's  and  cross-headings  averaging 
about  40  feet  wide  and  25  or  more  feet  high,  pillars  40  feet  in 
diameter  being  left  to  support  the  roof. 

In  1886  the  American  Salt  company  was  succeeded  by  the 
New  Iberia  Salt  company'-  which  made  arrangements  with  the 
Southern  Pacific  railroad  for  a  switch  from  New  Iberia.  This 
was  completed  in  1886  and  solved  the  question  of  transportation. 

The  extreme  irregularity  of  the  surface  of  the  salt  was  not 
fully  appreciated  by  the  companies  first  engaged  its  mining. 
The  surface  of  the  salt  changes  in  one  case  from  20  feet  below 
the  ground  to  loo  feet  in  ja  distance  of  less  than  200  yards.  The 
galleries  on  the  90  foot  level  were  driven  under  the  false  idea 
that  there  was  40  or  50  feet  of  salt  above  them  and  soon 
approached  the  outer  limit  of  the  salt.  Then  water  commenced 
to  come  in  the  mine  through  the  crevices.  After  the  water  had 
started,  it  did  not  take  long  for  it  to  dissolve  the  salt  and  change 
the  crevices  into  holes.  Thus  the  first  sink-hole  was  formed  as 
early  as  1883. 

Others  followed  and  the  sand  and  water  and  debris  carried 
into  the  mine  through  the  sink-holes  very  greatly  interfered  with 
the  mining  operations.  First  the  eastern  and  then  the  western 
side  of  the  mine  was  abandoned  and  it  was  decided  (1885)  to 
sink  the  shaft  70  feet  deeper.  This  additional  depth,  with  the 
eight  feet  required  for  the  pump,  made  the  total  depth  of  the 
working  shaft  168  feet.  Work  was  prosecuted  on  the  160  foot 
level  by  driving  galleries  and  crossways  80  feet  wide  and  40  feet 
high  and  leaving  supporting  pillars  60  feet  in  diameter. 

July  I,  1893,  Myles  and  company  of  New  Orleans,  obtained  a 
sublease  of  the  property.  The  water  which  entered  the  upper 
levels  through  the  sink-holes  finally  effected  an  entrance  to  the 
lower  levels  and  caused  that  part  of  the  mine  to  be  abandoned  in 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands  :  Petite  Anse  243 

July,  1895.  Operations  were  continued  in  the  upper  level  till 
1896  when  the  mines  reverted  to  the  Avery  family  by  default 
of  contract. 

Appreciating  that  the  life  of  the  present  mine  is  limited,  in 
1898  a  new  company  was  formed  under  the  name  of  the  Avery 
Rock  Salt  Mining  company,  to  carry  on  operations  in  the  old 
mine  and  to  sink  a  new  shaft.  Borings  were  made  and  a  site  was 
selected  southwest  of  the  old  mine  and  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
old  workings.  After  considerable  trouble  with  water  bearing 
sands  and  gravels,  salt  was  entered  at  a  depth  of  54  feet.  The 
shaft  at  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit  had  reached  a  depth  of  125 
feet  and  some  trouble  was  still  being  experienced  from  water 
coming  in  between  the  salt  and  the  timbers  of  the  shaft. 

Geology 

Surface  Geology.  — While  showing  commonly  a  brownish 
lowyel  loamy  soil,  this  island  differs*  from  the  others  in  the 
numerous  surface  exposures  of  gravel.  The  grayel  and  sand  out- 
crops seem  to  be  confined  entirely  to  the  southern  extremity. 
Sand  and  gravel  are  particularly  abundant  to  the  southeast  on 
Cherry  hill  and  at  the  shaft.  Some  gravel  is  exposed  in  the 
sandpit  on  the  railroad  track  and  in  the  sandpit  between  the  house 
and  the  store.  The  sand  and  gravel  obtained  from  the  pits  is  used 
quite  extensively  along  the  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific.  While 
the  bank  sand  is  of  fairly  good  quality  the  best  is  obtained  near 
the  mouths  of  the  ravines  where  the  water  has  washed  out  the 
little  clay  it  contains. 

On  the  northern  part  of  the  island  there  are  numerous 
outcrops  of  a  variegated  chocolate,  yellow  or  green  jointed  clay. 
The  notable  ones  are  on  the  northwest  slope  of  Prospect  hill, 
on  the  western  .slope  of  Smith's  hill,  in  the  cut  north  of  Avery's 
station  and  on  both  the  eastern  and  western  slopes  of  Residence 
hill.  On  the  eastern  slope  of  Residence  hill,  Hilgard  reports 
finding  besides  imperfect  vegetable  remains,  shells  of  Paludina, 
several  species  of  Unio  and  a  Cyclas.  The  writer  was  unable  to 
find  any  specimens  which  could  be  identified.  The  false  bed- 
ding and  cross-bedding  of  these  strata  render  dip  determinations 
practically  impossible. 


244  Geological  Survey  of  LouIvSiana  [Sect. 

Lignite. — One  of  the  gullies  at  the  head  of  Iron  Mine  Run 
hollow  exposes  part  of  a  bed  of  lignite,  65  feet  above  tide. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  mine  this  for  local  consumption  but  it 
was  soon  given  up.  A  shaft  30  feet  deep  was  sunk  exposing  the 
following  section  : 
No. 

1 .  Yellow  clay 1 2  ft. 

2.  Lignite 18  ft. 

3.  Clay  not  passed  through. 

Something  of  the  thickness  of  this  underclay  is  shown  by  a 
boring  85  feet  deep  made  about  100  yards,  a  little  north  of  west 
from  the  lignite  shaft,   which  passed   through  nothing  but  clay. 

The  lignite  as  exposed  in  an  excavation  in  one  side  of  the 
gully  shows  a  dip  of  44°,  S.  69°  E.  If  this  is  the  dip  shown  in 
the  mine  the  real  thickness  of  the  lignite  is  about  12  feet.  This 
dip  led  Bolton  to  surmise  that  the  lignite  and  sandstone,  shown 
further  down  the  same  ravine,  dipped  beneath  the  salt. 

Section  at  deep  boring. — That  this  idea  is  incorrect  is  shown 
quite  conclusively  by  a  deSp  boring  about  220  yards  from  the 
lignite  in  the  direction  of  the  shaft. 

Section  of  Deep  Boring 
(Elevation  48  feet  above  tide) 
No.     Depths 

1.  o-       4.     Fine  sandy  clay  soil 4  ft. 

2.  4-   160.     Very   fine  grained,  soft  pink  and  drab  or 

purple  sandstone 156  ft. 

3.  160-  166.     Hard,   coarse   grained,    chocolate  colored 

sandstone 6  ft. 

4.  166-1005.     White  rock  salt  not  passed  through 839  ft. 

This  section  clearly  shows  the  sandstone  on  top  of  the  salt  and 

indicates  an  unconformity  between  the  salt  and  the  overlying 
beds.  A  dip  of  slightly  more  than  44°,  S.  69°  E.,  would  be 
quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  absence  of  lignite  in  this 
section.     The  absence  of  gravel  is  quite  con.spicuous. 

Sandstone  of  Iron  Mine  ru7t. — The  sandstone,  3,  of  the  above 
section,  is  exposed  all  along  the  sides  of  the  ravine  from  the 
deep  boring  almost  to  the  bridge  near  the  shaft .  As  exposed  it 
is  a  very  fine  grained  pink  sandstone  with  here  and  there 
pieces  of  specular   iron  ore.     It   is  to  these  bits  of  iron  that  the 


in]  The  Five  Islands:    Petite  Anse  245 

branch  owes  its  high  sounding  name.  The  sandstone  outcrops 
along  a  line  running  northeastward  in  the  direction  of  Willow 
pond  but  no  fragments  or  outcrops  were  seen  beyond  this  pond. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  this  stone  might  be  used  for  railroad 
ballast  and  concrete  work  but  no  careful  tests  have  yet 
been  made. 

Section  northeast  of  the  mine. — The  large  sink  hole  northeast  of 
the  mine  reaches  a  depth  of  63  feet  below  the  level  of  the  top  of 
the  shaft.  It  thus  affords  an  excellent  exposure.  It  shows  little 
besides  white  and  orange  sands  with  occasional  gravel,  and 
masses  of  clayey  sand.  On  account  of  crossbedding,  falsebed- 
ding  and  landslips,  the  stratiiication  could  not  be  satisfactorily 
determined. 

Vertebrate  remains. — The  most  interesting  sections  to  be  seen 
are  in  the  sink  holes  which  occupy  the  region  between  the  old 
and  the  new  shafts.  Here  are  the  bone  and  potter}^  beds  which 
have  been  cited  as  evidence  that  man  and  mastodon  were  cotem- 
poraneous. 

The  first  notice  of  vertebrate  remains  on  the  island,  so  far  as 
we  are  aware,  was  given  by  Prof.  Joseph  Henry  in  a  paper  before 
the  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences  on  the  verbal  statement  of  Mr. 
T.  F.  Cleu,  who  contributed  a  specimen  of  basket  work  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.*  Owen  mentions  the  occurrence  of 
pottery,  but  says  nothing  about  fossil  vertebrates.  In  1883  Mr. 
William  Crooks,  of  the  American  Salt  company,  presented  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  a  collection  of  bones  obtained  in  sinking 
an  air  shaft.  These  were  turned  over  to  Prof.  Joseph  Leidy  for 
examination.  He  made  them  the  subject  of  a  brief  communica- 
tion to  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Sciences  in  1884  f  and  of  a 
detailed  report  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Wagner  Free 
Institute  of  Science  in  1889.  J  In  this  he  lists  : 
Mastodon  americanus.  Mylodon  harlani  Owen. 

Mylodon  sp.  (cf.  robiistus  Owen).      Equus  major  De  Kay. 


*  Trans.  Chicago  Acad.  Sci.,  vol.  i,  part  II. 

t  (Notes  on  Fossil  Bones  from  Petite  Anse,  L,ouisiana)  by  Joseph  Leidy, 
Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  vol.  36,  p.  22,  1884. 

X  Notice  of  Some  Mammalian  Remains  from  the  Salt  Mines  of  Petite 
Anse,  Louisiana.     Trans.  Wagner  Free  Inst.  Sci.,  vol.  2,  pp.  33-40,  1889. 


246  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Late  in  the  "eighties"  General  Dudley  A.  Avery  sent  sev- 
eral other  bones  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  ;  one  of  which 
was  identified  as  the  claw  of  a  Megalonyx. 

Probably  the  largest  collection  which  has  3et  been  made  at 
this  locality  was  by  Dr.  Joseph  F.  Joor,  of  New  Orleans,  for 
Tulane  University,  in  1890.*  These  were  submitted  to  Prof.  E. 
D.  Cope.  In  his  report  he  figures  and  describes  two  new  species 
of  Mylodon  and  considers  that  the  teeth  identified  by  Leidy  as 
Eqiius  majorJ)e.K.3.y  really  represent  a  new  speciesf.  The  species 
determened  by  him  are  : 

Mastodon  sp.  Mylodon  sulcidens  Cope. 

Mvlodon  harlanii  Owen.  Equtis  intermedhis  Cope- 

Mylodon  renide^is  Cope. 

To  this  list  Dr.  Joor  adds  doubtfully  the  remains  of  a.\\Elephas. 
The  bone  bed  is  a  fairly  rich  one  and  may  be  expected  to  yield 
some  good  material  to  the  careful   worker. 

The  section  shown  on  the  north  side  of  the  sink  hole  near  the 
old  air-shaft  is  : 

Section  Near  Air  Shaft 

1.  Gray  sandy  loam  with  numerous  pebbles 7  ft.  o  in. 

2.  Broken  pottery  and  ashes i   ft.  o  in. 

3.  Dark  gray  silt  ;  looks  like  hill-wash 5   ft.  6  in. 

4.  Finely  laminated  black  loam  containing  many 

grass   roots i   ft.   6  in. 

5.  Medium  coarse  white  sand  grading  above  into 

gravel  about  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg 2  ft.   5  in. 

6.  Black  or  dark   brown,  very  hard,  gravelly  sand 

containing  fragments  of  vegetable  matter  and 
Mastodon  Mylodon  and  Equus  bones.  Exposed 
surface  shows  greenish  yellow  with  sulphur 
efflorescence 2  ft.  o  in. 

7.  Salt.     Exposed 10  ft.  o  in. 

On  the  south   side  of   the  same  hole  layer  6  becomes  much 

thicker  and  grades  into  a  dark  tenacious  clay. 

*  Notes  on  a  Collection  of  Archeological  and  Geological  Specimens, 
etc.     Am.  Nat.,  vol.  29,  pp.  394-398- 

f  On  Some  Pleistocene  Mammalia  from  Petite  Anse,  Louisiana,  by  E.  D. 
Cope,  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Proc,  vol.  34,  pp.  458-468,  3  plates,  1895. 


in]  The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Anse  247 

Leidy  remarks  tliat  none  of  the  bones  examined  by  him  showed 
any  trace  of  erosion  ;  a  statement  which  is  confirmed  by  all  the 
specimens  collected  by  the  writer.  Just  south  of  the  new  shaft 
in  grading  for  the  railroad  embankment  what  appears  to  have 
been  a  fairly  complete  skeleton  of  a  mastodon  was  unearthed 
and  before  it  was  seen  by  any  one  who  realized  its  value  it  was 
buried  in  the  embankment.  A  few  bones  which  had  rolled 
down  to  the  foot  of  the  embankment  were  picked  up  by  General 
Avery  and  led  to  the  disclosure  of  the  above  facts.  About  three 
feet  of  a  tusk  was  afterwards  found  by  one  of  the  workmen  in 
the  side  of  the  embankment. 

A  few  stray  bones  have  been  found  in  Iron  mine  run  above 
the  bridge.  These  are  the  only  two  localities  where  bones  have 
been  found  outside  of  the  lowest  part  of  Salt  mine  valley. 

A^ew  shaft  section. — ^Just  west  of  the  last  section  the  new 
shaft  shows  very  little  in  common  with  the  bone-bed  section. 

Section  at  New  Shaft 

I .     Surface   soil 4  ft. 

Yellow  sand 12  ft. 

Sand  clay  and  gravel.     Water  line 8  ft. 

Sand  and  gravel 30  ft. 

Salt ; 

The  salt. — The  salt  is  white,  hard,  dry,  crystalline,  commonly 
composed  of  many  small  crystsls  from  an  eighth  to  a  quarter  of 
inch  in  diameter  which  are  very  irregular  because  of  interference. 
Occasionally  masses  are  found  which  are  composed  of  very  large 
crystals  as  shown  on  Plate  23.  The  salt  here  shows  nothing  of 
the  upper  dirty  salt  found  on  Belle  Isle  but  is  quite  white  so  far 
as  penetrated,  with  the  exception  of  parallel  bands  of  dark  salt 
from  two  to  six  inches  thick.  These  are  best  shown  on  a  freshlj- 
blasted  face.  Analysis  of  this  black  salt  by  Mr.  McCalla,  at 
one  time  resident  engineer  and  chemist,  shows  that  the  black 
bands  contain  seven  per  cent  of  insoluble  matter,  chiefly  gypsum. 

Access  could  be  had  to  only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  mine, 
at  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit  but  Mr.  John  Averj^  Assistant 
Superintendent,  states  that  the  extravagant  dip  shown  on  the 
present  working  face  is  the  same  both  in  intensity  and  direction 


248 


Geological   Survey  of  Louisiana 


[Sect. 


throughout  the  mine.  The  dip  shown  there  is  southeast.  That 
is,  if  these  really  represent,  as  they  seem  to,  lines  of  stratifica- 
tion, the  salt  is  almost  vertical.  Pomeroy  states  however  that  a 
close  examination  reveals  the  fact  that  the  salt  is  folded,  the  upper 
level  showing  three  distinct  anticlines. 

Analyses  of  the  salt. — The  remarkable  purity  of  the  salt  and 
the  absence  of  the  usual  impurities  found  in  other  rock  salt 
deposits  has  been  the  subject  of  quite  a  good  deal  of  comment 
and  is  one  of  the  hardest  points  to  meet  in  a  rational  explanation 
of  its  origin.  Quite  a  number  of  analyses  have  been  made,  of 
which  the  following  are  the  most  important. 

Analysis  of  Salt 


Chemist. 


Jules  Lafort  11—1863..  •• 

E.  W.  Hilgard*f— 1863 

Peter  Collier  f 

Dr.  Riddle  f 

C.  A.  Goessman  f 

C.  A.  Goessman  i;  i; 

Joseph  Jones  f . . .  .  .' 

F.  W.  Taylor  1882*+  .. 

Dr.  Doremus  f 

Gustavus  Bode  f 


Sodiujn      Calcium 
chloride,    sulphate. 


97. 
99- 


.920 

880 
.900 
.880 
.880 
.88 
,617 

71 
.097 
.252 


.126 
.838 
.76. 

•79 

.782 

.318 

1. 192 

■7293 
.694 


Calcium 
chloride. 

Mag- 
nesium 
chloride. 

Mag- 
nesium 
sulphate. 

other 
matter. 

Not 
deter- 
mined. 

2.08 

t. 

.146 

.022 

.080 

.014 

•13 

■23 

1        t. 

t. 

•33 

.400 

.003 

.062 

•33 
.003 

t. 

■013 

■1584 

.030 
.0389 

.042 

.012 

Yearly  production 
yearly  production  of 
output  reached   its 
railroad  connections 
Kansas  in  i888-i88c 


of  salt. — From  the  following  table  of  the 
salt  at  Petite  Anse  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
maximum  shortly  after  the  completion  of 
and  that  after  the  discovery  of  rock-salt  in 
)  it  suffered  a  heavy  decline.     Although  the 


The  Petite  Anse  Salt  Mine,  by  Richard  A.  Potneroy.  Trans.  Am.  Inst. 
Min.  Eng. ,  vol.  17,  pp.  107-113,  1888. 

II  Supplement  4  la  Geologie  Pratique.  He  Petite  Anse.  Comp.  Ren.  Gtol.  Soc.  France,  2d 
series,  vol.  20,  1863,  p.  543. 

*  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States  for  1882,  Salines  of  Louisiana,  by  E.W.Hilgard. 
p.  564,  18S3. 

•t-  Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States  for  1883-1884,  p.  841,  1885. 

*  Salt  by  C.  .A.  Goessman,  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopedia,  New  York,  1S95,  vol.7,  P-274. 
S  American  Cyclopjcdia.     Salt.     New  York,  1881.     vol.  14,  p.  572 

Buck,  C.  E.,  and  Goes.sman,  C.  A.  On  the  rock-.salt  deposits  of  the  Petite' Anse,  La.  Salt 
Company,  Report  of  American  Bureau  of  Mines,  New  York,  1867. 


ieOLOGlCAh  SURVBV   OF    LOUISIANA,    REPORT,    1899 


Vofii>xm/</iic  Map    of  PetiU-  Atise. 
By  a.  C.  X'eatch 


Ill] 


The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Anse 


249 


quality  of  the  Kansas  salt  is  inferior  to  that  of  Petite  Anse,  its 
nearness  to  the  great  packing  houses  largely  offsets  the  differ- 
ence. 


Production  of  Salt 

ON  Petite  Anse.* 

Year. 

Short  tons. 

Year. 

Short  tons. 

1812-1861 

1861-1862 

1862-1863 

1868-1880    

1881 

? 

200-        500 

10,000-30,000 

5,000 

15,000 

25.550 

37.130 

31.355 

41,898 

41,957 
47,750 

1888 

25.214 
45.588 
39,978 
24,320 
28,000 
26,800 
26,047 
22,368 
24,236 

i88q 

i8qo 

i8qi 

i8q2 

1882 

1803 

1883 

i8q4 

1884 

1895 

i8q6 

1885 

1886 

1887    

*i88i  to  1896  from  mineral  resources  of  the  U.  S. 

The  Lakes :  a  zoological probleyn. — The  lakes  on  the  island  are 
of  the  same  origin  as  those  on  Grand  Cote.  These  fresh  water 
lakes,  three  on  Petite  Anse,  five  on  Grand  C6te  and  one  on  Belle 
Isle,  offer  material  for  a  very  interesting  scientific  investigation. 
Isolated  as  they  are  from  other  bodies  of  fresh  water  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  main  land  by  sea  marshes  we  would  naturally 
look  for  some  faunal  peculiarities.  Although  the  age  of  the 
lakes  is  not  very  considerable  they  would  probably  show  some 
interesting  things  on  variation. 

Marsh  fires. — Few  nights  passed  during  my  stay  on  the  island 
that  great  parts  of  the  horizon  were  not  an  angry  red  from  dis- 
tant marsh  fires.  During  the  day  columns  of  smoke  told  of 
their  existence,  and  sometimes  they  approached  sufficiently  near 
to  be  seen  and  heard.  In  dry  seasons  or  after  a  very  severe  win- 
ter the  reeds  are  easily  ignited,  and  once  started  the  fire  spreads 
with  great  rapidity,  often  covering  many  hundred  acres.  To 
these  marsh  fires  is  probably  to  be  traced  the  early  idea  that 
these  hills  were  blazing  volcanoes.  They  have  given  rise  to  the 
name  "Fire  Islands"  mentioned  by  Hilgard  and  to  Stoddard's 
story  that  "one  of  the  islands  has  been  known  to  be  on  fire  for 
at  least  three  months." 


250  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect, 

The  cypress  stump  stratum. — It  is  believed  that  the  cypress 
stump  stratum  which  Hilgard  found  in  the  marshes  surrounding 
the  island  and  which  he  represents  in  his  cross-section  as  extend- 
ing under  the  island,*  represents  a  stratum  much  3'ounger  than 
that  seen  at  Port  Hudson  bluff.  On  the  eastern  side  of  Petite 
Anse  is  a  living  cypress  swamp  which  extends  eastward  along 
the  coast  on  a  line  between  the  prairie  and  the  marshes.  Taking 
the  present  rate  of  subsidence  on  the  Gulf  coast  (i  foot  in  20 
years  according  to  the  observations  of  Maj.  Quinnf)  it  hasn't 
been  a  very  great  while  since  the  prairie  occupied  the  land  now 
claimed  by  the  cypress  swamp  and  it  in  turn  occupied  that  w^hich 
is  now  sea-marsh.  The  islands  antedate  this  time.  Further 
there  is  no  evidence  of  the  stump  stratum  in  any  of  the  borings 
yet  made  on  the  islands.  The  lignite  has  in  every  case  been 
found  in  or  below  the  gravel. 

Conclusions. — The  data  thus  far  collected  seem  to  show  that  the 
salt  mass  on  Petite  Anse  represents  the  edge  of  an  upturned 
fault  block.  The  dip  together  with  the  absence  of  the  impure 
salt  bed  seen  on  the  top  of  the  Belle  Isle  anticline  would  seem  to 
indicate  this.  Whether  this  be  due  to  orographic  movements  or 
to  faults  produced  by  the  dissolution  of  vast  amounts  of  the 
underlying  salt  cannot  be  positively  stated,  but  the  evidence  at 
hand  rather  favors  the  former.  The  dip  of  the  lignite  bed,  the 
only  surface  bed  whose  dip  could  be  determined,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  data  furnished  by  the  holes  drilled  near  it  indi- 
cates that  this  bed  rests  unconformably  on  the  salt.  Two 
separate  movements  of  the  strata  are  then  indicated :  an  initial 
movement  of  about  38°,  with  an  interval  during  which  the  clay 
and  lignite  and  the  pink  sand  bed  were  deposited  around  the 


*See  section  of  island.  Hilgard,  Smith.  Contr.  vol.  23,  separate  No.  248, 
1872. 

Copied  by  Pomeroy,  Eng.  and  Min.  Jour.,  vol.  46,  pp.  280-281,  1888.  Sci. 
Am.,Suppl.,  vol.  26,  pp.  10719-10720,  No.  671,  1888;  Am.  Inst.  Mining  Eng. 
Trans.,  vol.  17,  pp.  107-113,  1889. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  call  attention  to  the  difference  between 
this  section  and  the  facts  as  they  now  present  themselves. 

f  An.  Rept.  U.  S.  Engineer  1895.  Quoted  in  Appleton's  Annual  Cyclo- 
paedia, 1895,  New  York  1896. 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Axse  251 

protruding  salt  mass  and  a  second  greater  movement  which 
resulted  in  the  tipping  of  the  lignite  at  an  angle  of  44°. 

The  stratigraphical  position  of  the  gravel  seems  to  be  above 
the  lignite  and  its  position  on  the  southern  end  of  the  island 
would  thus  be  readily  explained.  Although  the  position  of  the 
gravel  could  be  almost  as  well  accounted  for  b}^  the  supposition 
of  a  deposition  prior  to  the  first  movement.  Of  the  clay  beds, 
part  are  undoubtedly  older  than  the  lignite,  indeed  the  direction 
of  the  dip  would  make  the  bulk  of  the  under  clays  on  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  island  older. 

There  are  some  facts  bearing  on  the  date  of  the  last  movement. 
The  vertebrate  remains  found  in  mine  valley  show  no  trace  of 
erosion,  so  they  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  having  been  trans- 
ported by  the  same  agent  that  brought  the  gravel.  The  animals, 
which  the  bones  represent,  in  all  probabilit}'  ventured  into  the 
valley  for  salt  and  became  mired  in  the  mud  which  surrounded 
the  lick  or  spring.  Such  deposits  in  the  mire  about  salt  springs 
are  not  at  all  uncommon.  The  bone  bed  was  formed  after  the 
elevation  of  the  island  and  the  bones  represent  Pleistocene 
mammalia. 

ARCH.EOtOGY 

Remains  in  salt  tnine  valley. — The  potshreds  and  other  remains 
which  have  been  mentioned  above  as  indicating  the  former  use  of 
the  salt  by  the  Indians,  seem  to  have  been  first  seen  in  the  exca- 
vations made  during  the  war.  Owen  on  his  visit  to  the  island 
(1865)  found  fragments  of  pottery  scattered  over  the  old  dump 
heaps. 

About  that  time  Prof.  Joseph  Henry  figured  and  described  in 
the  Transactions  of  the  Chicago  Academj^  of  Sciences  a  fragment 
of  cane  basket  work  from  Petite  Anse  received  from  Mr.  T.  F. 
Cleu  with  the  statement  that  it  had  been  found  directly  on  the 
salt  two  feet  beneath  elephant  remains.* 

This  has  formed  the  basis  of  the  statement   by  Fosterf   and 


*  Trans.  Chicago  Acad.  Sci.,  vol.  i,  part  II.     Quoted  by  Foster. 
+  Prehistoric  Races  of  the  United  States  of  America  by  John  Wells  Foster, 
Chicago,  1881,  p.  56. 


252  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Nadaillac*  that  man  and  the  mastodon  lived  at  the  same  time  on 
Petite  Anse. 

Hilgard  and  Fontaine  examined  the  deposit  during  their  visit 
to  the  island.  Dr.  Hilgard  makes  no  positive  statement  but 
seems  to  feel  rather  doubtful,  on  account  of  the  detrital  nature 
of  the  material,  that  the  reported  position  of  the  bones  above  a 
part  of  the  human  relics  really  represents  their  true  order  of 
deposition.  Dr.  Fontaine,  though  writing  an  article  to  disprove 
the  high  antiquity  of  man,  states  positively  that  "they  are  so 
mingled  that  we  can  only  infer  that  the  men  and  animals  were 
coeval."! 

The  formation  of  the  sink  holes  around  the  mine  made  it 
possible  to  examine  these  deposits  more  carefully  than  before. 
Bolton  states  that  pottery  and  other  relics  are  found  mingled 
with  the  mastodon  bones.];  Dr.  Joor  does  not  mention  any 
relics  from  the  bone  bed  or  below.  All  those  seen  by  him  he 
considers  of  comparatively  recent  origin  ;  four  or  five  hundred 
years  being  ample  to  account  for  their  present  position. § 

The  writer  carefully  searched  in  the  bone  bed  for  objects  which 
could  be  unquestionally  attributed  to  man  but  was  unable  to  dis- 
cover any.  Numerous  pieces  of  cane  were  found  in  this  layer 
and  some  had  a  peculiar  split  appearance  which  was  first  thought 
to  be  artificial  but  turned  out  to  be  due  to  unequal  weathering. 
If  a  piece  of  cane  was  found  partially'  embedded  in  clay  the 
exposed  end  almost  always  had  the  split  appearance  while  the 
part  enclosed  in  the  bank  was  perfectly  solid.  Pieces  of  wood 
showed  a  tendency  to  behave  in  the  same  way. 

A  section  about  50  yards  northwest  of  the  section  given  above 
from  the  old  air  shaft  shows  the  greatest  thickness  of  the  pottery 
bed  yet  observed. 


*  Prehistoric  American  by  Marquis  de  Nadaillac,  Trans,  by  N.  D'Anvers 
New  York,  1895,  p.  36. 

f  E.  W.  Fontaine.     How  the  World  Came  to  Be  Peopled. 

:}:  Trans.  New  York  Acad.  Sci.,  vol.  7,  p.  125,  1888. 

i^  Notes  on  a  Collection  of  Archeological  and  Geological  Specimens,  etc. , 
Am.  Nat    vol.,  29,  1895,  p.  396. 


Ill]  The  Five  Islands  :    Petite  Anse  253 

Section  Noiihwest  of  Old  Air  Shaft 
No.  Feet  Ins. 

1.  Surface  loam,  a  brown  sandy  clay 6-10     o 

2.  Potshreds    and    ashes    with   a    few    specimens    of 

Giiathodoyi  aineatus  and  recent  animal  bones .  .  .  2-3  6 

3.  Dark  gray  loam  with  iron  pyrite  and  iron  tubes.  .  3  6 

4.  Gravel,  light  colored i  o 

5.  Finely  laminated  gray  silt i  o 

6.  Hard  dark  sand}'  clay,    filled    with  black   gravel 

about  the  size  of  a  hen's  eg,g.  Fragments  of 
reed  cane,  twigs  and  small  branches  are  numer- 
ous. Contains  bones  of  Mastodon,  Elephas  (?), 
Mylodo7i,  Eqiius.  Weathered  surface  shows 
sulphur  efflorescence 4 

7.  Salt 

So  far  as  our  present  knowledge  goes  the  evidence  of  the  con- 
temporaneity of  man  and  the  mastodon  on  Petite  Anse  consists 
of  a  single  fragment  of  basket  work  found  in  contact  with  the 
salt.  While  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  man  did  live  in  the 
same  period  as  the  mastodon  yet  for  this  locality  to  prove  that 
such  was  the  case  it  must  first  be  shown,  as  Mr.  H.  C.  Mercer 
suggests,*  that  the  Indians  or  their  predecessors  did  not  carry 
on  mining  operations  here.  If  pits  were  dug  to  the  surface  of 
the  salt  then  the  position  of  the  basket  work  beneath  the  fossil 
bones  can  be  readily  accounted  for. 

Other  retnains. — On  the  summit  of  Prospect  hill  is  a  little 
tumulus  scarcely  five  feet  high  and  forty  feet  in  diameter  which 
has  all  the  appearance  of  an  artificial  mound.  It  ma^-  be  one  of 
the  so-called  lookout  or  signal  mounds  which  cap  the  highest  hills 
along  many  of  the  northern  rivers.  It  shows  traces  of  an 
excavation  in  the  center,  which  I  suppose  was  made  bj-  Dr  Fon- 
taine as  he  reports  the  mound  to  be  regularly  statified.r 

On  the  point  of  the  ridge  between  Wooded  pond  and  De Vance's 
pond  are  numerous  specimens  of  Gnathodon  cuneatus  and  pot- 
shreds, indicating  a  camp  site. 

■^The  Antiquity  of  Man  on  Petite  .^nse  (Avery's  Island)  Louisiana,  Am. 
Nat.  vol.  29,  pp.  393-394,  i895- 

+  Fontaine's  conclusions  are  mentioned  by  Hilgard  in  his  article  in  Smith. 
Con.  vol.  23,  separate  No.  248,  p.  19,  1872. 


254  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

C6te  Carline* 
Location  and  Topography 

Geographical  position. — Like  Petite  Aiise,  this  island  has  had  a 
great  variety  of  names  :  Cote  Carline,  Depuy's  island,  Miller's 
island,  Orange  island  and  Jefferson's  island.  As  the  winter  home 
of  Joseph  Jefferson,  the  famous  actor,  it  is  now  better  known  by 
the  latter  name.  It  is  situated  very  near  the  line  between 
Vermillion  and  Iberia  Parishes  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
township  12  south,  range  5  east.  It  is  about  nine  miles  west 
of  New  Iberia  and  but  a  short  distance  from  the  Abbeville  branch 
of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad. 

Surrouyiding  cowitry. — Unlike  the  other  islands  Cote  Carline 
rises  out  of  a  prairie,  the  sea  marsh  being  two  miles  and  the  Gulf 
nine  miles  away.  Touching  the  island  on  the  northwestern  side 
is  Lake  Peigneur,  a  beautiful  little  stretch  of  water  about  two 
miles  long.  The  fishermen  say  that  sometimes  during  very  high 
prolonged  south  winds  the  tide  of  the  ocean  is  felt  in  the  lake. 
The  depth  of  this  lake  has  been  variously  stated,  estimates  rang- 
ing from  15  to  32  feet.  Surrounding  the  island  are  fiat  prairie 
lands  used  for  the  cultivation  of  rice. 


*  This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  name  for  this  island  which  appeared  in 
literature,  having  been  iised  by  Darby  in  1818  in  his  Emigrant's  Guide  to 
the  Western  and  Southwestern  States  of  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  etc. 

Flint,  in  his  History  and  Geography  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  2d  edition, 
vol.  I,  p.  53,  says  the  principal  islands  along  the  gulf  shoie  of  Louisiana 
west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  are  Barataria,  the  noted  resort  of 
Lafitte's  piratical  squadron,  Thomas,  La  Croix  and  Ascension  Islands.  It  is 
difficult  to  place  these  names  exactly.  They  are  referred  to  as  elevated 
islands  rising  to  a  height  of  from  30  to  100  feet  above  the  sea  marsh  and 
hence  we  suppose  refer  to  the  Five  Islands.  Thomas'  is  probably  Petite  Anse 
for  it  is  spoken  of  as  being  connected  with  the  main  land  by  a  causeway 
and,  so  far  as  we  know,  Petite  Anse  was  the  only  one  so  connected  at  that 
time.  Barataria  may  refer  to  either  Belle  Isle  or  Cote  Carline,  more 
probably  the  former  ;  for  while  Cote  Carline  has  a  number  of  old  tombs 
which  are  attributed  to  the  early  pirates  most  of  Lafitte's  operations  seem 
to  have  been  conducted  from  Belle  Isle  on  account  of  its  nearness  to  the  sea. 
It  may  however  refer  to  one  of  the  low  lying  islands  in  Barataria  bay  or 
bayou.  No  clue  has  yet  been  found  by  which  the  other  two  names  may 
be  placed. 


in]  The  Five  Islands  :  C6te  Carline  255 

Topography. — The  area  of  this  circular  protuberance  in  the 
prairie  is  about  300  acres.  It  is  very  regular  with  a  maximum 
diameter  of  about  a  mile.  Facing  the  lake  is  a  little  wave- 
formed  bluff  about  thirty  feet  high.  With  this  exception  the 
slope  from  the  highest  point,  which  has  an  elevation  of  75  feet 
above  the  lake  just  back  of  the  Jefferson  residence,  is  very 
gradual.     The  hollows  are  very  insignificant. 

GE01.0GY 

Surface  geology. — It  is  this  little  bluff  which  Thomassy  mentions 

in   his   description   of    the   island  and   Lake    Peigneur   is   the 

"  ancient  crater  "  from  which  he  supposed  the  material  forming 

C6te  Carline  was  thrown  out.     Hilgard  did  not  visit  the  island 

and  was  unable  to  locate  the  "  central  crater  "  from  descriptions 

received  because  he  was  evidently  looking  for  a  small  lake  on  the 

island    itself    like   those    on    Petite  Anse    and    Grande   Cote, 

Although  Thomassy's   conclusions  were  a  little  distorted    his 

observations  were  in  the  main  ver^'  correct. 

Bluff  section. — The  bluff  sections  which  he  describes  shows  : 

Feet 

1 .  Surface  soil • 2 

2.  lyight  yellow  buckshot  clay  with  limestone  concretions .        26 

3.  Gravel  to  water  level 2 

The  surface  of  the  island  is  uniforml}^  covered  with  a  humus- 
stained  5'ellow  loam  containing  limestone  concretions.  The  only 
exposure  of  gravel  is  along  the  shore  of  the  lake  at  the  base  of 
the  cliff.     Numerous  springs  issue  from  the  gravel  bed. 

Salt  explorations. — In   1894  Mr.   Jefferson  let  a  contract   for 

drilling  a  well  near  his  home,  this  resulted  in  the  discovery  of 

rock  salt  at  a  depth  of  334  feet  early  in  the  summer  of  1895. 

Mr.  A.  F.  lyucas  was  then  put  in  charge  of  the  drilling  and  wdth 

a  diamond  drill  sunk  the  hole  to  a  depth  of  2,090  feet.     The  drill 

was  still  in  salt  when  work  ceased.     The  section   exposed  there 

was  : 

Sectiofi  of  Hole  No.  i 

(Elevation  above  lake  65  feet^ya  feet  A.  T.?) 

Feet 

1 .  o-  265  Unknown 265 

2.  265-  334  Coarse  gravel  and  sand 69 

3.  334-2090  White  rock  salt  without  noticeable  impurities  1756 


256  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Section  of  Hole  No.  8. — Altogether  eight  holes  were  drilled  to 
locate  the  contour  of  the  salt.  Only  four  of  these  reached  the 
salt.  They  all  show  a  surface  layer  of  clay  from  33  to  1 10  feet 
thick  beneath  which  are  irregular  layers  of  sand  and  gravel  with 
one  or  more  layers  of  blue  clay,  and  in  one  case  a  thin  layer  of 
lignite.  The  nearest  the  salt  approaches  the  surface  is  91  feet, 
in  hole  No.  8  which  showed  the  following  section  : 

Sectioti  0/  Hole  No.  8 
No.     Depths  Feet 

I.        o-  33   Clay    33 

2-      33-  91   Sand  and  cla}^ 58 

3.     91-112  Rock  salt,  not  passed  through 21 

Blue  clay  and  ziyic. — In  hole  No.  7,  a  depth  of  442  feet  was 
reached  without  finding  salt.  This  shows  fairly  well  the  usual 
arrangement  of  the  beds  on  the  island. 

Section  of  Hole  No.  7 
No.     Depths  Feet 

1 .  0-80  Clay    80 

2.  80-187  Sand 107 

3.  187-195  Sand  and  blite  clay 8 

4.  195-260  Sand 65 

5.  260-278  Sand  and  gravel 18 

6.  278-303  Coarse  gravel 25 

7-     303^363  Sand  and   gravel 60 

8.  363-396  Blue  clay  and  zinc  sand 33 

9.  396-428  Sand 32 

10.     428-442  Cemented  sand  and  blue  clay  * 16 

In  laj'er  2,  at  a  depth  of  between  130  and  160  feet,  a  fragment 
of  pottery  2x3  inches  was  pumped  out  of  the  pipe.  It  is  posi- 
tively stated  that  it  could  not  have  fallen  in  from  above.  Layer 
8  records  the  blue  galena  and  zinc  clay  of  Belle  Isle. 

Shape  of  Salt  Mass. — At  the  time  of  the  writer's  visit  there 
was  no  one  on  the  island  who  could  give  the  exact  location  or 
order  of  the  holes.  It  was  therefore  impossible  to  determine 
their  relative  position  and  elevation.  This  leaves  us  decidedly 
in  the  dark  as  to  the  exact  shape  of  the  salt  mass.  All  that  we 
know  is  that  there  is  a  point  of  maximum  elevation. 

*To  this  Mr.  Lucas  adds  "  vSalt  is  probably  not  very  far  from  this  point." 


Ill]  The  Fire  Islands:  Surrounding  County  257 

Conclusions. — The  regularity  of  the  surface  layer  of  clay  and 
the  underlying  gravel  beds  is  very  similar  to  Grande  Cote  and  C6te 
Blanche,  so  far  as  we  know  it.  In  three  of  these  wells  there  is 
a  single  la3^er  of  clay  which  might  show  something  about  the  dip, 
if  the  relative  elevation  and  position  of  the  holes  was  known. 
The  island  shows  no  evidence  whatever  of  having  been  thrown 
out  of  Lake  Peigneur  by  an  explosion  or  eruption  of  any  kind. 
Nor  was  Lake  Peigneur  necessarily  formed  at  the  same  time. 


Attakapas  Prairie 
Well  Sections 

Hilgard' s  supposition. — The  boring  of  numerous  artesian  wells 
in  Attakapas  prairie  has  thrown  much  light  on  the  stratigraphy 
of  this  part  of  the  country.  Hilgard,  from  a  superficial  exami- 
nation of  the  country  around  the  islands  states  that  nearly  all 
the  material  above  the  Port  Hudson  stump  stratum  has  been 
eroded  ;  indeed,  he  believed  that  the  present  relief  of  the  islands 
was  to  a  very  great  extent  produced  by  the  removal,  by  erosion 
of  the  Port  Hudson  material  from  the  country  surrounding  the 
islands.  These  sections  rather  disprove  this  idea  as  the}'  show 
material  of  verj^  considerable  thickness  which  Hilgard  would 
undoubtedly  have  regarded  as  Port  Hudson. 

Jea7i7ierette  well  sections. — The  data  collected  by  Clendenin 
give  a  set  of  four  wells  extending  from  Jeannerette  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Grande  Cote  ;  two  of  which  we  have  taken  the  liberty 
of  reproducing. 

Ice  Factory  Well  Jeannerette 

Depth  Feet 

I.         0-15  Red  clay 15 

2-        15^  95  Mottled  clay  and  sand 80 

3.  95-105  Organic  bed,  leaves,  twigs,  etc 10 

4.  105-175  Sand  and  gravel.     Water  bearing 70 

5-      i75~350  Yellow  clay,  not  passed  through 175 

A  second  well  much    nearer    Grande    Cote   shows    a  greater 
thickness  of  the  beds  overlying  the  gravel, 
o 


258  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Artesiafi  Well  2)%  Miles  Southivest  0/ Jeafinerelte* 

Depth  Feet 

1.  0-140  Soil  and  gray  mottled  clay. 140 

2.  140-142   Shell  bed 2 

3.  142-152  Organic  bed 10 

4.  152-217  Sand  and  gravel 65 

Two  other  wells  in  the  same    region  give   about    the    same 

sections. 

Glencoe  well  section. — A  deep  well  at  Glencoe  although  quite 
near  the  line  of  the  islands  shows  an  increased  thickness  of  the 
upper  beds. 

Artesian  Well  Glencoe* 
Depth  Feet 

1 .  o—      I    Soil I 

2.  I-  12  Yellow  clay 12 

3.  12-  24  Quicksand 12 

4.  24-224  Blue  clay 200 

5.  224-     ?  Shale  and  clay ? 

6.  ?-625  Coarse  sand  and  gravel.     Water ? 

Although  this  section  is  quite  incomplete  the  depth  below  the 

top  of  the  sand  and  gravel  strata  at  which  water  is  usually  found 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  depth  of  the  sand  and  gravel 
here  is  at  least  500  feet. 

Tho massy' s  sectio?i. — On  his  way  from  New  Iberia  to  Grande 
C6te,  Thomassy  passed  by  a  Mr.  Zenon  Oliver's  plantation. 
This  was  probably  in  the  southern  part  of  Prairie  Au  Large. 
Here  he  obtained  the  following  section  : 

•    Section  of  well  at  Prairie  Au  Large  f 

1 .  Yellow  to  chocolate  cla}- 2  to  3  ft. 

2.  Yellow  sand 5  to  6  ft. 

3.  Red  sand  containing  flint  pebbles  and  gravel  which 

are   entirely   foreign  to  the  alluvium  of   the 
Mississippi.     Not  passed  through ■ 25  ft. 

*A  Preliminarj-  Report  upon  the  Florida  Parishes  of  East  Louisiana  and 
the  BluflF,  Prairie  and  Hill  Land  of  Southwest  Louisiana  by  W.  W.  Clen- 
denin.     Part  III,  Bull.  La.  State  Expt.  Stations,  1896. 

\  Geologie  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,  p.  82. 


Ill]  The  Fire  Islands  :  Origin  259 

This  section  is  quite  different  from  the  other  sections.  The 
uncertainty  of  its  location  makes  it  difficult  to  frame  any  conclu- 
sions regarding  it.  It  may  represent  a  local  gravel  bed  in  the 
Port  Hudson  or  a  slight  uplift  connected  with  the  insular  uplifts. 
If  the  latter  be  the  case  a  deep  well  will  probably  reach  salt. 

General  Considerations 
The  Origin  of  the  Islands 

Method  and  date  of  formation. — Only  two  of  the  islands  furnish 
definite  data  on  the  method  and  date  of  their  formation.  Belle 
Isle  shows  a  ver\-  distinct  dome-shaped  fold.  Petite  Anse  seems 
to  represent  a  fault  block. 

They  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  portion  of  a  great  anticlinal 
ridge  or  backbone,  as  Hilgard  supposed,  extending  from  north- 
west to  southeast.  On  Petite  Anse  the  line  of  strike  of  the  lig- 
nite, sandstone  and  salt  is  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  the  islands, 
i.  e  ,  across  the  supposed  fold  rather  than  with  it.  On  Belle 
Isle  the  main  line  of  hills  and  the  salt  mass  lie  northeast  and 
southwest  instead  of  northwest  and  southeast.  On  Grande  Cote 
the  main  line  of  hills  and  the  salt  mass  extend  almost  north  and 
south. 

No  evidence  of  the  two  movements  indicated  on  Petite  Anse  has 
been  seen  on  the  other  islands  and  it  may  be  that  the  phenomenon 
there  shown  is  the  result  of  complex  faulting.  If  we  suppose 
the  Five  Islands  were  made  at  the  same  time,  the  time  of  this 
crustal  movement  can  be  approximated  very  closely.  The  prin- 
cipal folding  or  faulting  occurred  after  the  deposition  of  the  shell 
bed  on  Belle  Isle  and  before  the  bone  bed  on  Petite  Anse.  Both 
of  these  are  Pleistocene. 

The  upper  clay  beds  spread  mantlewise  over  the  gravel  beds, 
on  Grande  C6te,  Cote  Blanche  and  Cote  Carline,  seem  to  have 
been  deposited  after  the  formation  of  the  islands  ;  very  probably 
at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Icess  beds  of  the 
eastern  escarpment  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 

It  would  seem  then  that  the  formation  of  the  islands  began 
with  a  possible  initial  movement  (evidences  of  which  have  thus 
far  been  seen  only  on  Petite  Anse)  in   probably  late  Tertiary 


26o  Geological  vSurvey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

time.  The  main  folding  and  faulting  which  occurred  in  the 
Pleistocene  was  followed  by  the  depression  of  the  whole  costal 
region  and  the  deposition  of  the  upper  yellow  clays.  During  the 
succeeding  high  level  period  the  deep  channels  of  the  costal 
rivers  were  excavated  and  the  lake  valleys  formed  on  the  islands. 
The  subsidence  which  followed  has  continued  to  the  present  day. 

That  the  immediate  shore  of  the  Gulf  should  have  been  the 
scene  of  orographic  movements  in  Pleistocene  time  may  at  first 
appear  a  little  startling  but  there  is  no  reason  wli}-  it  should  not 
be  so  and  every  reason  why  it  should.  The  great  sedimentary 
deposits  which  have  been  forming  along  the  Gulf  shore  in  recent 
time  would  tend  to  disturb  its  equilibrium.  The  extent  of  these 
recent  deposits  is  shown  in  the  Galveston  well  section  which  at 
a  depth  of  2,920  feet  had  not  penetrated  the  Upper  Miocene. 
1,500  feet  of  this  material  is  above  strata  known  to  be  Upper 
Tertiary.* 

Age  0/  the  salt  deposit. — No  data  bearing  directly  on  the  age  of 
the  salt  deposit  have  yet  been  obtained.  No  fossils  older  than 
Pleistocene  have  been  found  hi  situ  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
salt.  The  gravel  beds  which  overlie  the  salt  are  of  decidedly 
uncertain  date.  If  we  accept  the  generally  received  opinion  of 
the  age  of  the  southern  gravel  beds  they  are  Uafayette  or  late 
Pleiocene.     This  would  make  the  .salt  bed  pre-Pleistocene. 

The  only  other  data  we  have  bearing  on  the  age  oi.  this  deposit 
are  the  salines  of  northern  Louisiana.  Darby  first  called  atten- 
tion to  the  similarity  between  the  salt  springs  on  Petite  Anse 
and  those  north  of  Red  River,  f  Hilgard  noticed  the  same 
resemblance  is  his  reconnaissance  of  Louisiana  in  1869  and  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  a  Cretaceous  ridge  or  backbone  with  several 
peaks  now  represented  by  ovitcrops.  These  salines  are  in  many 
cases    associated    with    hard    crystalline     limestone     showing, 


*  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Organic  Remains  Obtained  from  the  Deep 
Well  at  Galveston  together  with  Conclusions  Respecting  the  Age  of  the 
Various  Formations  ;  Penetrated  by  G.  D.  Harris,  4th  An.  Rept.  Texas  Geol. 
Surv.,  t)p.  117-119    1893. 

f  The  Emigrant's  Guide  to  the  western  and  southwestern  States,  etc., 
New  York,  1S18,  p.  86.  He  says,  "From  its  proximity,  this  spring,  has 
been  considered  as  merely  a  drain  of  the  sea,  but  on  inspection,  it  has  all 
the  common  features  of  the  salt  springs  found  north  of  Red  River." 


Ill]  The  Fire  Islands  ;  Origix  261 

wherever  the  outcrop  is  large  enough  to  see  the  stratigraphy,  a 
marked  dome.  The  salt  springs  apparently  emerge  from  this 
g3'pseous  limestone,  which  Hilgard,  on  two  fossils  found  at 
King's  salt  works,  pronounced  Cretaceous.  Vaughan  on  very 
slender  evidence  guessed  it  to  be  upper  Cretaceous.*  This  was 
proven  this  year  beyond  question  by  a  large  suite  of  fossils  col- 
lected at  Ravburn's  salt  works. 

The  salt  springs  of  northern  Louisiana  are  then  known  to 
emerge  from  upper  Cretaceous  outcrops.  No  salt  springs  are 
known  in  the  Tertiary  of  this  region  ;  therefore  Hilgard  con- 
cluded the  salt  to  be  Cretaceous.  So  far  as  our  evidence  goes 
this  seems  the  most  probable  though  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  be 
proven. 

Comparison  of  the  Loicisiana  rock  salt  deposit  to  the  great  deposits  of 
theivorld. — In  thickness  and  purity  the  Louisiana  salt  deposit  easily 
outranks  any  other  yet  known  in  this  country.  In  Europe  the 
famous  Strassfurt  deposits  of  Permian  age  show  onh'  685  feet  of 
pure  rock  salt.t  But  it  is  outranked  by  the  salt  wells  in  strata 
of  the  same  age  at  Sperenberg  near  Berlin,  which  pas.ses  through 
3,769  feet  of  rock  salt.+  Geikie  gives  to  the  famous  Wieliczka 
deposits  of  Gallacia,  Austria,  which  are  now  believed  to  be  Ter- 
tiary, sj  possibly  Miocene,  or  even  later,  |  an  aggregate  thickness 
of  4.600  feet.  But  this  does  not  represent  the  thickness  of  a 
single  mass  of  salt  as  is  the  case  in  the  Cote  Carline  deposit. 
The  saliferous   formations   of    Wieliczka    consist  of  lavers  and 


*A  Brief  Contribution  to  the  Geology  and  Paleontology  of  Northwestern 
Louisiana  by  T.  Wayland  Vaughan.  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv  No.  142,  1896, 
pp.  12-13. 

f  Text  Book  of  Geology  by  Archibald  Geikie,  3d  ed.,  London,  1893,  p.  148. 

X  Geology,  Chemical,  Physical  and  Stratigraphical,  by  Joseph  Prestwich, 
Oxford,  1884,  vol.  I,  p.  116,  vol.  2,  p.  140. 

Nature,  vol.  15,  p.  240,  1877. 

Hand  Book  of  Geology  by  A.  Geikie,  3d  ed.,  London,  1893,  p.  148. 

Elements  of  Geology  by  Joseph  LeCoute,  4th  ed.,  New  York,  1897,  p. 439. 

§  A  System  of  Mineralogy  by  E.  S.  Dana,  6th  ed.,  New  York,  1892,  p,  155. 

]|  Address  by  Andrew  Crombie  Ramsey.  Report  of  Brit.  Assn.  Adv.  Sci., 
1880,  p.  13. 


262  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [vSect. 

masses  of  salt  separated  by  beds  of  clay,  marl  and  anhydrite.* 
The  rock  salt  of  the  salt  range  of  India,  the  only  other  deposit 
which  can  compare  with  the  Louisiana  beds  in  thickness,  is 
associated  with  beds  of  clay  ;  the  aggregate  thickness  of  the 
whole  averaging  300  to  700  feet  and  not  exceeding  i,2oo.f 

It  would  seem  that  according  to  thickness  and  purity  the 
Louisiana  salt  beds  rank  third  and  possibly  second  in  the  great 
salt  deposits  of  the  world. 


*  Elements  of  Chemical  and  Physical  Geology  by  Gustav  Bischof,  London 
1854,  vol.  I,  p.  383.  Quotes  Zeuchner  in  Jahrbnch  fiir  Mineralogie,  etc., 
1844,   p.  527. 

*  Earthy  and  Other  Minerals  and  Mining  by  D.  C.  Davies,  London,  1888, 
p    86. 

f  Memoirs  of  Gaol.  Surv.  of  India, vol.  2.  "The  Trans-Indus  Salt  Region," 
by  A.  B.  Wynne.     Quoted  by  Davies  in  Earthy  Minerals  and  Mining,  p.  93. 


special  Report  No.  4. 
A  REPORT  ON  LOUISIANA  CLAY  SAMPLES 

BY 
HEINRICH   RlES 


Localities 

Explanation  of  Tests 

Page  Page 

Tzvo  kinds  of  tests 264     Plasticity    264 

Origin  of  Clays 
Residual 265     Sedimentary 265 

Structure 
Two  types 265 

Composition 

Physical  Properties  of  Clay 

Plasticity 266     Effect  of  heat  on  clay 268 

Shrinkage 267     Slaki?2g 271 

Fire  shrinkage 26S 

Physical  Tests  of  Louisiana  Clays 


264  Geological   Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 


A  REPORT  ON  LOUISIANA  CLAY  SAMPLES. 
Preliminary  Remarks 
locauties 

The  samples  examined  were  from  the  following  localities  : 
Harris  No.  53.    Alluvial  clay,  R.  R.  track  just  S.  of  Little  R. 
40.     Grand  Gulf  clay,  i  mile  west  of  Lena. 
62.     Carter's  pottery  works,  Robelicn,  La. 
X.     Sec.  17,  3  N.,  II  W. 
St.  Joe  brick  clay. 
Shale,  vSec.  17,  3  N.,  11  W. 

Explanation  of  Tests 

Before  giving  the  results  of  the  tests  and  presenting  my  con- 
clusions concerning  the  possible  uses  of  the  material  investigated, 
it  may  be  well  to  explain  the  tests  which  were  carried  out  on  the 
sample,   and  their  practical  bearing. 

Two  kinds  of  tests. — In  the  testing  of  clays',  two  different  lines 
of  work  may  be  followed,  the  one  chemical  and  the  other  physi- 
cal. The  former  gives  results  that  are  of  practical  value  only 
in  certain  cases  ;  the  latter  is  of  practical  importance  in  every 
case,  and  yields  information  concerning  the  material  that  can  be 
appreciated  and  used  by  the  intelligent  clay  worker.  It  is  the 
physical  testing  that  has  been  done  on  the  samples  submitted. 

Plasticity. — Claj^  is  a  very  common  substance  in  nature,  and 
yetnothwithstanding  its  abundance,  it  is  one  of  the  mineral  prod- 
ucts whose  properties  are  least  understood.  The  most  striking 
property  that  clay  possesses  is  plasticit^^  and  it  is  one  of  the  two 
properties  that  make  it  of  such  enormous  value  to  mankind. 
Plasticity  in  brief  is  the  property  by  virtue  of  which  the  clay 
when  mixed  with  water  can  be  molded  into  any  desired  shape, 
which  form  it  retains  when  dry.  The  second  great  property  is 
brought  out  when  the  clay  is  subjected  to  a  degree  of  heat  above 
low  redness,  it  becoming  converted  into  a  hard  rock-like  mass, 
which  for  durability  and  strength  is  exceeded  by  few  building 
stones. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  4  :  Clays  265 

Origin  of  Clays 

Residual. — Clay  is  a  secondary  substance  ;  that  is  it  is  formed 
by  the  decay  of  other  rocks,  especially  those  containing  the  min- 
eral feldspar.  When  feldspar  decays  it  yields  the  mineral 
kaolinite,  which  is  a  hydrated  silicate  of  alumina.  A  mass  of 
kaolinite  would  be  called  kaolin,  and  this  latter  is  the  purest 
form  of  cla}^  known,  but  thus  far  no  absolutely  pure  clay  has 
been  found  in  nature.  The  feldspar  often  occurs  in  the  forms 
of  veins,  and  its  decomposition  gives  rise  to  veins  of  kaolin.  As 
a  rule  the  feldspar  is  associated  with  other  minerals,  especially 
quartz  and  mica,  so  that  the  kaolin  thus  formed  is  a  mixture  of 
kaolinite,  quartz,  mica  and  even  some  undecomposed  feldspar. 
A  deposit  of  clay  formed  under  these  conditions  and  containing 
only  the  minerals  mentioned  would  be  pure  white,  and  would 
also  be  called  a  residual  clay,  because  it  represents  the  residuum 
of  rock  decay  and  is  found  at  the  localit}'  where  it  was  formed. 
Very  often  the  feldspar  is  intermixed  with  minerals  which  con- 
tain iron  in  some  form,  and  in  the  decay  of  such  feldspathic 
rocks  the  iron  is  set  free  in  the  form  of  iron  oxide  and  colors 
the  clay  red.  Residual  clays  of  this  type  are  very  common  all 
through  the  south  in  those  regions  which  are  underlaid  by 
gneisses  and  other  crystaline  rocks,  and  they  form  the  great 
brick-making  material  of  many  of  the  Southern  states. 

Sedimentary. — As  the  land  surface  is  gradually  worn  down  by 
weathering,  the  particles  of  residual  material  are  washed  down 
into  the  lakes  or  seas  and  there  spread  out  over  the  bottom  in  the 
form  of  sediment.  Beds  of  clay  formed  in  this  manner  are 
known  as  sedimentary  clays. 

Structure 

Two  types. — The  structure  of  these  two  types  of  clay  deposit 
is  very  different.  In  residual  clays  we  find  that  there  is  a 
gradual  passage  from  the  fine  grained  clay  at  the  5-urface  into 
that  which  contains  a  mixture  of  fine  particles  and  angular  frag- 
ments, and  this  in  turn  passes  by  stages  into  the  undecomposed 
rock  beneath.  Indeed  the  structure  of  the  parent  rock  is  often 
observable  for  several  feet  up  into  the  clay  mass,  as  in  the 
process  of  rock  decay  there  is  often   very  little  movement  of  the 


266  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

mineral  fragments.  Sedimentary  clays  on  the  other  hand  show 
no  relation  to  the  underlying  parent  rock.  They  are  usually 
distinctly  stratified,  and  there  may  be  a  number  of  distinctly 
similar,  or  markedly  different  layers  one  on  top  of  the  other. 

Composition 

Hither  residual  or  sedimentary  clays  may  be  composed  entirely 
of  very  fine  grains  of  clay  substance  as  it  is  called,  or  they  may 
be  made  up  of  a  mixture  of  both  coarse  and  fine  ones. 

The  relative  amount  of  these  present  exercises  an  important 
effect  on  the  behavior  of  the  clay  as  will  be  explained  later. 

In  nature  it  is  possible  to  find  all  grades  of  clay  varying  from 
the  nearly  pure  ones  to  those  which  are  most  impure. 

A  clay  which  is  nearly  pure  such  as  the  higher  grades  of  kaolin 
would  have  only  silica,  alumina  and  combined  water  in  its  com- 
position, while  the  impure  clays  would  have  not  only  the  above 
mentioned  ingredients,  but  in  addition  lime,  magnesia,  iron  oxide 
and  alkalies,  and  the  less  pure  the  clay  the  greater  the  quantit}^ 
of  these  substances  which  are  found  in  it.  The  most  important 
effect  of  these  impurities  as  a  whole  is  to  alter  the  fusibility  of 
the  clay,  and  the  greater  the  percentage  of  them  that  the  clay 
contains  the  more  easil}-  will  it  melt. 

A  second  effect  of  these  impurities,  especially  the  iron,  is  their 
influence  on  the  color  of  the  clay  in  burning. 

Physical   Properties  of  Clay 

The  physical  properties  of  clays  are  extremely  important,  and 
on  them  depend  many  possibilities.  The  most  important  of 
these  properties  are  plasticity,  tensile  strength,  fusibility,  color 
on  burning,  shrinkage,  and  slaking. 

Plasticity. — This  property  has  already  been  explained  as  that 
by  virtue  of  which  thecla^^  can  be  molded  into  any  desired  shape, 
which  shape  it  retains  when  dry.  The  plasticity  of  a  clay 
depends  almost  entirely  on  its  physical  condition,  that  is  on  the 
size  and  shape  of  the  clay  grains,  and  stands  in  absolutely  no 
direct  relation  to  the  amount  of  kaolinite  which  the  clay  contains, 
although  this  fact  is  often  erroneously  stated  in  many  books. 
The  cause  of  plasticity  being  thus  partly  understood  it  is  easily 
conceivable  that  clays  will  vary  widely  in  the  degree  of  plasticity 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  4  :  Clays  267 

which  they  exhibit.  Very  plastic  clays  are  called  "  f at  "  while 
those  which  are  low  in  plasticity  are  called  "lean."  One  of  the 
important  effects  of  plasticity  is  that  it  permits  the  clay  to  be 
molded  more  readily,  and  obviates  the  danger  of  its  cracking 
while  it  is  being  formed. 

Plasticity  is  developed  by  mixing  the  clay  with  water,  and  the 
plasticity  of  any  clay  increases  with  the  amount  of  water  added 
up  to  a  certain  point,  while  the  addition  of  more  water  causes 
the  clay  to  soften  and  turn  into  a  condition  of  mud.  In  sedi- 
mentary clays,  especially  the  very  plastic  ones  an  appreciable 
amount  of  water  can  be  added  to  the  clay  after  the  point  of  maxi- 
mum plasticity  has  been  reached  without  destroying  the  cohe- 
siveness  of  the  clay,  but  with  residual  clays  the  addition  of  a  very 
slight  excess  of  water  in  mixing  is  often  very  noticeable  as  the 
material  softens  to  the  mud  like  condition  very  rapidly. 

Ver}'  plastic  clays  may  require  as  much  as  35  or  40  per  cent  of 
water  by  weight  to  develop  their  greatest  plasticity,  while  the 
lean  ones  may  not  need  over  15  or  even  20  per  cent  to  accomplish 
the  same  result. 

Shrinkage. — If  a  mass  of  clay  is  set  aside  after  being  molded 
and  allowed  to  dry,  because  of  the  evaporation  of  the  water,  the 
particles  begin  to  draw  together  and  the  mass  shrinks.  This  is 
known  as  the  air  shririkage.  Clays,  which  are  very  plastic  and 
contain  a  large  quantity  of  fine  particles  in  their  mass  tend  to 
shrink  the  most,  while  the  very  lean  clays  as  a  rule  shrink  the 
least.  The  more  water  that  is  added  to  the  clay  in  molding,  the 
greater  will  be  the  air  shrinkage.  It  is  in  this  stage  that  the 
effects  of  dr^'-pressiug  make  themselves  beneficially  felt,  that  is 
when  the  clay  is  molded  in  the  form  of  a  dry,  or  nearly  dry 
powder  there  is  little  or  no  water  to  escape  and  consequently  the 
air  shrinkage  is  very  low.  The  air  shrinkage  of  lean,  sand}^ 
clays  may  be  as  low  as  two  per  cent,  while  for  very  fat  plastic 
clays  it  may  be  as  high  as  12  per  cent.  There  are  certain  dangers 
which  attend  the  high  shrinkage  in  the  air  drying,  i.  e.  that  the 
clay  does  not  tend  to  dry  equally  fast  throughout  the  mass 
unless  the  operation  is  carried  on  very  slowly,  and  consequently 
there  is  danger  of  cracking  in  the  ware,  or  twisting  of  the  form. 
(If  the  particles  of  the  clay  interlock  in  an  intimate  manner,  and 


268  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

resistance  very  strongly  the  tendency  to  be  pulled  apart,  then 
there  is  less  danger  of  cracking.)  This  resistance  of  the  parti- 
cles to  tearing  is  spoken  of  as  the  tensile  strength  and  is  expressed 
in  pounds  per  square  inch.  It  is  measured  by  forming  the  cla^- 
into  the  form  of  briquettes  of  the  same  shape  and  size  as  those 
used  in  the  testing  of  cement.  When  dry  these  are  placed  in  a 
cement  testing  machine  and  the  number  of  pounds  per  square 
inch,  which  is  required  to  pull  them  apart,  is  measured.  This  is 
a  variable  quantit)',  and  may  run  from  lo  or  15  lbs.,  to  400.  The 
tensile  strength  shown  by  the  various  types  of  clay  in  their 
a/>  ^;7>a^  condition,  is 

Kaolins 10-  25  lbs.  per  sq.  in. 

Brick  clays 60-  75  ' ' 

Pottery  clays 100-150  " 

Paving  brick  clays 75-150  " 

Fire  shri?ikage. — If  after  a  clay  has  been  air  dried  it  is  put  in 
a  furnace  or  kiln  and  subjected  to  a  slowly  rising  temperature, 
it  begins  to  shrink  more,  beginning  at  a  low  temperature  and 
continuing  upwards.  This  second  shrinkage  is  known  as 
the  fire  shrinkage  and  may  be  just  as  variable  as  the  air 
shrinkage.  It  is  due  partly  to  the  loss  of  chemically  combined 
water  which  the  clay  contains,  and  also  to  the  presence  of  other 
volatile  materials  such  as  organic  matter  in  the  clay.  It  is  just 
as  important  that  the  fire  shrinkage  should  proceed  slowly  in 
order  to  prevent  cracking  and  warping  of  the  ware.  Fine 
grained  clays  usually  shrink  more  in  burning  than  coarse,  sandy 
ones,  and  it  is  on  this  account  that  sand  is  sometimes  added  to 
the  clay  in  the  process  of  mixing  and  molding. 

Effect  of  heat  on  clay. — In  addition  to  the  fire  shrinkage  which 
has  just  been  mentioned,  there  are  certain  other  changes  which 
take  place  during  the  burning  of  a  clay  and  these  depend  on  the 
temperature  and  also  on  the  clay,  whether  pure  or  impure.  If 
the  clay  is  heated  to  a  certain  point,  which  will  be  the  higher, 
the  purer  the  clay,  a  softening  of  the  particles  takes  place,  or 
fusion  begins.  If  the  clay  is  not  heated  further  than  this  point, 
it  will  on  cooling  be  of  a  hard,  rock-like  natvire.  but  will  still  be 
porous.  This  is  known  as  the  condition  of  incipient  fusion.  A 
further  heating  to  a  temperature  of  from  75  to  200  degrees  Fahr. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  4  :  Clays  269 

causes  the  particles  to  soften  still  more  under  the  action  of  the 
heat,  so  that  they  pack  together  in  a  smaller  space,  leaving  no 
interstices.  At  this  point  the  maximum  shrinkage  of  the  clay 
has  been  reached  and  the  mass  will  also  be  impervious  or  very 
nearly  so.  It  is  what  is  known  as  the  condition  of  vitrification. 
This  is  the  state  to  which  stoneware,  paving  brick  and  sewer  pipe 
should  be  burned.  But  all  clays  do  not  yield  the  best  results  if 
burned  to  this  point. 

If  the  clay  is  heated  still  higher  it  begins  to  soften  still  more 
and  at  a  certain  point  becomes  viscous  or  flows.  This  is  there- 
fore spoken  of  as  the  point  of  viscosity.  In  clays  which  are  to 
be  burned  to  the  condition  of  vitrification  the  points  of  vitrifica- 
tion and  viscosity  should  be  at  least  150  degrees  Fahr.  apart  and 
preferably  200  degrees.  In  limy  clays  the  points  of  incipient 
fusion  and  viscositj'  are  very  close  together  and  consequently  it 
is  not  possible  to  burn  a  kiln  full  of  ware  to  vitrification  without 
danger  of  running  it  beyond  to  the  point  of  viscosity.  In  some 
fireclays  the  differcence  between  the  points  of  incipient  fusion 
and  viscosity  ma}'  be  as  much  as  600  degrees  Fahr. 

In  very  impure  clays  incipient  fusion  may  begin  at  as  low  a 
temperature  as  1,700  degrees  Fahr.,  while  in  fireclays  this  same 
point  may  not  be  attained  below  2,700  degrees,  and  indeed  it 
really  should  not  in  order  to  permit  calling  the  clay  refractory. 

Another  effect  of  heating  is  the  change  of  color  that  is  brought 
about,  especially  by  iron,  for  this  is  the  great  coloring  agent  of 
clay  in  both  the  burned  and  unburned  condition.  With  a  given 
percentage  of  iron,  the  clay  when  lightly  burned  will  be  light 
red,  but  as  the  temperature  of  the  firing  increases  the  color 
deepens,  passing  into  deep  red  and  finally,  when  the  clay  fuses, 
into  bluish  black.  Again,  the  greater  the  quantity'  of  iron  oxide 
in  a  clay  the  deeper  will  be  the  color  produced  at  any  given 
temperature.  This  production  of  the  red  color  assumes  that  the 
condition  of  the  kiln  fires  is  oxydizing,  that  is  that  there  is  a 
supply  of  air.  If  there  is  an  insufficient  supply  of  the  latter  the 
the  fire  will  act  reducing  and  the  color  of  the  burned  cla}'  will  be 
bluish  instead  of  red. 

There  are  certain  ingredients  which  tend  to  destroy  the  red- 
dening power  of  iron,  and  these  are  lime  and  alumina.     It  has 


270  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

been  found  that  if  the  clay  contains  a  large  percentage  of 
alumina,  that  the  coloration  produced  by  the  iron  will  be  much 
fainter  than  if  the  percentage  of  alumina  were  smaller.  L,ime, 
however,  is  far  more  powerful  in  this  respect  than  alumina,  for 
if  the  lime  percentage  is  only  one  and  one-half  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  iron  it  begins  to  exert  a  bleaching  action  on  the 
color  of  the  clay  in  burning,  and  if  the  ratio  of  lime  to  iron  is 
as  three  to  one  the  brick  instead  of  burning  red  will  burn  buff. 
This  explains  the  cream  color  of  many  cream  colored  bricks. 
It  should  be  added,  however,  that  a  small  percentage  of  iron  in  a 
clay  will  produce  the  same  shade,  but  the  limy  clay  will  not 
stand  much  heat  whereas  the  one  low  in  iron  will,  and  further- 
more if  they  are  overburned,  the  limy  one  will  turn  green- 
ish yellow,  and  the  other  will  tend  to  pass  into  a  deep  buff  or 
deep  red. 

An  important  question  with  clay  workers  is  the  regulation  of 
the  temperature,  and  the  production  of  similar  results  during  a 
number  of  successive  burnings.  It,  therefore,  becomes  neces- 
sary to  have  some  means  of  judging  the  temperature  of  the  kiln. 
One  method  consists  in  using  a  testpiece  of  clay,  which  shows 
certain  effects  when  the  burning  has  reached  the  proper  point. 
Another  method,  which  is  a  modification  of  the  one  just  men- 
tioned, is  to  use  what  are  known  as  Segers  cones.  These  are 
little  pyramid  pieces  of  clays  with  other  substances  of  a  fluxing 
nature  added.  They  are  so  compounded  that  there  shall  be  a  con- 
stant difference  between  their  fusing  points.  These  cones  are 
numbered  from  .022  to  33.  The  theory  of  these  pyramids 
or  cones  is  that  the  cone  bends  over  as  the  temperature 
approaches  its  fusing  point,  and  when  this  is  reached  the  tip 
touches  the  base. 

In  actual  use  they  are  placed  in  the  kiln  at  a  point  where  they 
can  be  watched  through  a  peephole,  but  at  the  same  time  will 
not  receive  the  direct  touch  of  the  flame  from  the  fuel,  and  it  is 
always  well  to  put  two  or  more  in  the  kiln  so  thas  warning  can 
be  had  of  the  approach  of  the  desired  temperature,  as  well  as  of 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  temperature  is  rising. 

In  order  to  determine  the  temperature  of  the  kiln  several 
cones  are  put  in,    as   for  example,   Nos.  .07,  i  and  5.     Suppose 


Ill] 


Special  Report  No.  4  :  Clays 


271 


that  .07  is  bent  over  in  burning  but  5  is  not  affected.  Then  the 
temperature  of  the  kiln  was  between  3  and  5.  The  naxt  time 
2,  3  and  4  are  put  in,  and  2  and  3  may  be  fused  but  4  remain 
unaffected,  indicating  that  the  temperature  reached  the  fusing 
point  of  three.  If  this  is  the  temperature  at  which  the  burning 
of  the  kiln  is  completed  then  in  future  burnings  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  put  cone  three  in  the  kiln  and  raise  the  fire  until  this 
bends  over.  These  cones  can  be  obtained  for  the  sum  of  one  cent 
each  from  Prof.  E.  Orton,  Jr.,  of  Columbus,  O.  In  the  testing 
of  the  samples  of  the  lyouisiana  clays  these  cones  were  used,  and 
the  fusibility  of  the  clay  is  expressed  in  terms  of  them.  For  the 
temperature  of  the  fusing  points  of  these  cones  reference  can  be 
made  to  the  following  list  which  gives  the  fusion  points  in 
degrees  Fahrenheit. 


Number  of 

Fusing  point 

Number  of 

Fusing  point 

Number  of 

Fusing  point 

cone 

degr's  Fahr. 

cone 

degrees  Fahr. 

cone 

degrees  Fahr. 

.022 

1094 

.02 

2030 

18 

2714 

.021 

1 148 

.01 

2066 

19 

2750 

•020 

1202 

I 

2102 

20 

2786 

.019 

1256 

2 

2138 

21 

2822 

.018 

1310 

3 

2174 

22 

2858 

.017 

1364 

4 

2210 

23 

2894 

.016 

1418 

5 

2246 

24 

2930 

.015 

1472 

6 

2282 

25 

2966 

.014 

1526 

7 

2318 

26 

3002 

.013 

1580 

8 

2354 

27 

3038 

.012 

1634 

9 

2390 

28 

3074 

.Oil 

1688 

10 

2426 

29 

31IO 

.010 

1742 

II 

2462 

30 

3146 

.09 

1778 

12 

2498 

31 

3182 

.08 

1814 

13 

2534 

32 

3218 

.07 

1850 

14 

2570 

33 

3254 

.06 

1886 

15 

2606 

34 

3290 

.05 

1922 

16 

2642 

35 

3226 

.04 

1958 

17 

2678 

36 

3362 

.03 

1994 

Slaking. — When  a  lump,  or  mass  of  clay  is  thrown  into  water 
it  falls  to  pieces.  This  is  called  slaking.  Some  claj^s  slake  very 
rapidly,  while  in  the  case  of  others  it  proceeds  so  slowly  as  to  be 
almost  imperceptible.  Sandy  clays  tend  to  slake  more  rapidly, 
than  fine  grained  or  dense  ones,  and  shales  will  at  times  not 
slake  at  all,  although  on  grinding  and  mixing  with  water  they 


272  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  Sect. 

show  the  same  degree  of  plasticity  as  clay,  for  a  shale  is  nothing 
more  than  a  clay  which  has  become  consolidated  by  simple  pres- 
sure of  the  overlying  sediments  that  cover  it.  The  practical 
bearing  of  slaking  is  twofold.  It  comes  into  play  when  the  clay 
is  being  mixed  with  water  before  molding,  when  it  is  desired  that 
the  clay  shall  permit  the  tempering  water  to  enter  all  of  its  pores 
both  thoroughly  and  quickly.  It  also  comes  into  play  when 
clays  are  being  washed  in  order  to  free  them  from  any  coarse 
particles  of  sand  that  they  may  contain,  in  which  case  if  the 
clay  slakes  rapidly,  the  operation  of  washing  can  be  carried  on 
with  greater  speed  and  at  the  same  time  the  result  will  be  more 
complete. 

Physical  Tests  of  Louisiana  Samples 

148.  (Survey   Xo.    S3-)     Alluvial   clay   R.    R.  track   just  S.  of 

Little  R. 

This  was  a  somewhat  gritty  clay,  and  slaked  easily  when 
thrown  into  water.  On  working  it  up  it  developed  very  good 
plasticity,  and  required  only  20  per  cent,  of  water  to  mix  it, 
which  is  low.  The  tensile  strength  of  air  dried  briquettes  made 
from  this  mass  is  55  lbs. 

The  ratio  of  fine  to  coarse  particles  is  shown  b}-  the  mechani- 
cal analysis  which  gave 

Clay  and  fine  silt 73  per  cent. 

Fine  sand 27 

The  bricklets  made  from  the  clay  had  an  air  shrinkage  of 
6  per  cent. 

At  cone  3  the  total  shrinkage  was  75^  per  cent.,  and  incipient 
fusion  had  begun.  At  this  temperature  the  clay  burned  to  a 
good  red  color.  It  contains  small  specks  of  p^^rite  which  pro- 
duce little  fused  spots  when  the  clay  is  burned. 

At  cone  5  the  shrinkage  is  the  same  and  vitrifaction  began  at  9. 

The  clay  is  not  to  be  classed  as  a  fire  cla}'  for  it  is  thoroughly 
viscous  at  cone  26. 

It  would  no  doubt  work  for  the  manufacture  of  a  good  grade 
of  brick,  and  would  perhaps  lend  itself  to  the  molding  of  pressed 
brick  by  the  dry-press  process. 

149.  (Survey  No.  40.) 

This  is  also  coarse,  grained  sandy  clay  and  at  the  same  time 
one  that  slakes  very  rapidly. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  4  :  Clays  273 

It  took  21  per  cent,  of  water  to  work  it  up  and  the  air  shrink- 
age of  the  bricklets  made  from  this  mass  was  10  per  cent. 

The  mechanical  composition  is  verj^  similar  to  the  preceding 
one  and  is : 

Clay  and  fine  silt 73-50   per  cent 

Very  fine  sand 26.30         ' ' 

99.80 
The  tensile  strength  was  45  lbs.  per  sq.  in.  which  is  sufficient 
for  a  brick  clay,  but  really  should  be  greater. 

At  cone  3  the  claj^  burns  light  red  and  shows  signs  of 
incipient  fusion. 

At  cone  5  the  total  shrinkage  was  13  per  cent,  and  the  color 
of  the  bricklet  had  changed  to  a  deep  red,  while  the  iron  oxide 
mixed  in  with  the  clay  substance  had  caused  the  latter  to  sinter, 
but  the  brick  was  by  no  means  vitrified. 

In  burning  it  would  be  best  not  to  raise  the  temperature  above 
cone  3,  for  it  destroys  the  color  and  also  the  texture  of  the  body. 
The  clay  contained  but  a  trace  of  soluble  salts  and    therefore 
there  would  be  but  little  danger  of  its  becoming  covered  with  a 
coating  unless  it  were  from  the  mortar  after  being  set  in  the  wall. 
150.      (Survey  No.  62.)     Carter's  potterj-  works,   2^   mi.   E.  of 
Robeline,  La. 
This  is  quite  a  plastic  clay  and  one  of  the  best  of  the  lot   sub- 
mitted.    As  the  tensile  strength  often  stands  in   more  or    less 
direct  relation  to  the   plasticity,  it  may   be  remarked    that    the 
latter  is  75  lbs.  per  sq.  in. 

The  mechanical  analysis  also  indicates  that  the  clay  has  mostly 
plastic  particles,  for  it  gave 

Fine  sand None 

Fine  silt 80.75    per  cent 

Clay 20. 20         ' ' 

100.95 
At  cone  i  the  clay  burns  hard  and  dense  with  a  total  shrink- 
age of  13  per  cent. 

At  cone  3  the  shrinkage  was  the  same,  but  vitrification  had 
begun. 

At  cone  5  the  clay  began  to  get  viscous. 

This  would  bar  it  out  from  being  a  fireclay.      It  burns  however 

R 


274  Geologicai<  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

to  a  ver}'  dense  hard  body,  and  could  perhaps  be  used  for  paving 
brick. 

The  percentage  of  soluble  salts  amounted  to  a  mere  trace.  It 
would  work  for  common  earthenware  articles  of  small  size,  but 
for  stoneware  it  would  probably  be  found  more  desirable  to  mix 
it  with  a  more  plastic  cla3\ 

151.  (Survey  10.)     Sec.  17,  T.  3  N.,  R.  11  W. 

This  clay  is  very  plastic  and  while  it  contains  little  coarse  grit 
it  has  much  very  fine  sand.  It  took  31  per  cent  of  water  to 
work  it  up,  and  the  tensile  strength  of  the  air  dried  briquettes 
was  75  lbs.  per  sq.  in. 

The  mechanical  analysis  gave  : 

Cla}^  and  fine  silt 42. 10  per  cent 

Very  fine  sand 57-25        " 

99-35 
The  air  shrinkage  was  1 1  per  cent. 

At  cone  3  the  clay  burned  light  red  and  the  total  shrinkage  was 
12  per  cent. 

At  cone  6  the  total  shrinkage  was  14  per  cent  and  the  color  of 
the  brick  brownish  red,  while  incipient  fusion  had  begun. 

If  burned  to  this  temperature  the  clay  would  no  doubt  make  a 
good  grade  of  face  brick.  It  is  not  a  fire  clay  for  at  cone  26  it 
became  thoroughly  viscous. 

The  clay  contained  but  one-tenth  per  cent,  of  soluble  salts. 

Like  the  preceding  it  would  do  for  making  earthenware,  and 
good  pressed  brick  as  well. 

152.  St.  Joe  Brick  Clay,  St.  Tammany  Parish,  La. 

A  sandy  mottled  clay  that  slakes  very  fast.     It  took   21  per 
cent  of  water  to  work  it  up  and  gave  a  plastic  but  slightly  gritty 
mass,  which  for  practical  purposes  does   no  harm.     The  tensile 
strength  of  the  air  dried  briquette  was  60  lbs.  per  sq.  in. 
The  mechanical  analysis  5'ielded, 

Fine  sand 63.00  per  cent 

Clay  and  fine  silt 36.50       " 

9950 
The  air  shrinkage  was  only  4  per  cent  which  is  due  to  the  high 

sand  percentage  shown  by  the  mechanical  analysis. 

At  cone  3  the  clay  burns  bright  brick  red  and  shows  specks  of 

fused  pyrite. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  4  :  Clays  275 

At  cone  5  the  color  was  still  red  and  the  shrinkage  was  8  per 
cent,  while  incipient  fusion  had  begun. 

At  cone  26  the  clay  was  completely  vitrified. 

It  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  semi-refractory  clay,  bnt  not  good  for 
fire-brick. 

There  was  onl}'  a  trace  of  soluble  salts. 
153.     Sec.  17,  T.  3  N.,  R.  II  W. 

This  is  a  soft  gritty  shale  with  flakes  of  mica  and  much 
organic  matter.  It  took  35  per  cent,  of  water  to  work  it  up  but 
did  not  give  a  very  plastic  mass. 

The  air  dried  briquettes  had  a  tensile  strength  of  only  30  lbs. 
per  sq.  in. 

The  air  shrinkage  amounted  to  9)^  per  cent. 

At  cone  i  incipient  fusion  occurred  and  the  color  of  the 
brick  was  red.  The  total  shrinkage  up  to  this  point  was  12 
percent. 

At  cone  5  vitrification  began  and  the  shrinkage  was  13 
percent. 

The  soluble  salts  amounted  to  three-tenths  of  one  per  cent, 
which  is  not  excessive,  but  enough  to  yield  a  coating. 

While  the  clay  burns  dense  at  a  comparatively  low  tempera- 
ture, viz.,  cone  5,  at  the  same  time  it  lacks  in  plasticity,  and 
if  it  is  desired  to  use  it  for  paving  brick  or  stoneware  it  should 
be  mixed  with  a  more  plastic  clay. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  all  of  the  clays  submitted 
would,  when  used  alone  work  for  pressed  brick,  one  for  paving 
brick  and  two  for  earthenware. 

Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  points  of  incip- 
ient fusion  of  all  lie  somewhat  higher  than  they  do  in  most  brick 
clays,  and  therefore  the  best  results  will  be  obtained  by  burning 
them  in  permanent  walled  kilns. 

There  is  a  great  tendency  among  Southern  brickmakers  to  not 
only  underburn  their  bricks,  but  also  to  mix  sand  with  the  clay, 
when  there  is  already  enough  sand  in  it. 


special  Report  No.  5 

A    REPORT   ON  A   COLLECTION   OF    FOSSIL 

PLANTS    FROM     NORTHWESTERN 

LOUISIANA 


BY 

Arthur    Hollick 


CONTENTS 

Letter  of  Tratismittal 

Cryptogamia 
Pteridophyta 

POLYPODIA  CE.E 

Pteris  pseudopennaeformis,  279 

Phanerogamia 

ANGIOSPERM.5i-MONOCOTYI.EDON.C 

GRAMINE.E 

Poacites  sp.,  279 
CYPERACE.K 

Cyperites  sp.  279 

ANGIOSPERM.*;-DlCOTYI,EDON.5i 

JUGLANDACE.E 

Juglans  rugosa,  280 
Juglans  schimperi,  280 

FAG  ACE. E 

Quercus  microdentata,  280 

iL..yACE.E 

Ultnus  tenuinervis,  280 

MORACE.]-: 

Artocarpus  dubia,  281 
Artocarpus  lessigiana,  281 
Artocarpus  pungens,  281 
Ficus  artocarpoides,  ?  281 
Ficus  harrisiana,  281 
Ficus  planicostata,  282 
Toxylon   longipetiolatum,  282 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  5  :    Fossil  Plants  277 

MAGNOLIACE.^. 

Mag-nolia  hilgardiana,  282 
Magnolia  lanceolata,  282 

LAURACE.K 

Cinnamotnutn  buchi,  283 
Cinnamomutn  scheuchzeri,  ?  283 
Cinnamomum  sezannense,  283 
Cryptocarya  eolignitica,  283 
Daphnogene  kanii,   ?  284 
Laurus  primigenia,  284 
Persea  speciosa,  284 
Tetranthera  prsecursoria,  284 

AQUIFOLIACE.E 

Ilex?  affinis,  ?  285 
Ilex  sp.,  285 

CELASTRACE.E 

Celastrus  taurinensis,  ?  285 
Celastrus  veatchi,  285 

SA  PIN  DACE.  K 

Sapindus  angustifolius,  286 
RHAMNACE.E 

Rhamnus  cleburni,  286 
CORNACE.E 

Cornus  studeri,  ?  286 
ERICA  CE.E 

Andromeda  delicatula,  287 

Andromeda  eolignitica,  287 

SAPOTACE.E 

Sapotacites  americanus,  287 
OLEACE.E 

Fraxinus  johnstrupi,  ?  287 
APOCYNACE.E 

Apocynophyllum    sapindifolium,  288 


A  REPORT  ON  A  COLLECTION  OF  FOSSIL  PLANTS 
FROM  NORTHWESTERN  LOUISIANA 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


Columbia  University,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Sept.  23,  1899. 
Professor  G.  D.  Harris, 

Cornell  Uuiversity,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.: 
Dear  Sir :  I  transmit  with  this  a  report  upon  the  collection  of 
fossil  plants  from  the  vicinity  of  Shreveport,  La.,  which  you 
sent  to  me  for  examination  some  months  since.  The  collection 
numbers  about  175  specimens,  the  majority  of  which  are  beauti- 
fully preserved.  The  larger  number,  and  best  specimens,  are  in 
a  fine  reddish  sandstone  *;  a  few  are  in  gray  sandstone  t  and  the 
remainder  in  clay  J  or  cla}"  concretions  ||  . 

About  50  species  are  represented.  Of  these  I  have  been  able 
to  identify  30  either  positively  or  provisionally.  Six  others  I 
have  described  as  new  species. 

They  are  all  dicotyledonous  angiosperms,  with  the  exception 
of  two  monocotyledons  and  one  fern,  and  they  indicate  a  Lower 
Tertiary  horizon. 

Very  truly  yours, 

ARTHUR  HOLLICK. 


*  %  mile  above  Coushatta,  La. 

f  K.  C.  P.  &  G.  R.  R.  cut,  I  mile  west  of  Shreveport,  La. 
X  Slaugliter-Pen  bluff,  Shreveport,  La. 

II  Vineyard  bluff,  Cross  bayou  (>^  m.  above  Slaughter-Pen  bluff),  Shreve- 
port, La. 


Cryptogamia 

Pteridophyta 

POL  YPODIA  CE^ 

Pteris  pseudopennseformis,  Plate  32,  fig.  i. 

Pteris  pseudoperuiceforniis  Lesq.,  Tert.  Fl.  p.  52,  pi.  4, figs.  3,  4. 

Our  specimen  is  the  best  one  of  this  species  thus  far  figured 
and  gives  a  clear  idea  of  the  difference  between  it  and  P.  penyi^F- 
formis  Heer,  Fl.  Tert.  Helvet.,  vol.  i,  p.  38,  pi.  i  ,  fig.  i,  with 
which  it  was  originally  confused  by  Lesquereux.  In  addition  to 
the  fragments  figured  by  lycsquereux  another  by  Newberry  ma^- 
be  found  in  his  Later  Kxtinct  Floras,  etc.,  Monog.  U.  S.  Geol. 
Surv.,  vol.  35,  pi.  48,  fig.  5. 

In  hard  clay  concretions,  A^ineyard  bluff,  Cross  bayou  (^  m. 
above  Slaughter-Pen  bluff),  Shreveport,  La. 

Phanerogamia 
Angiosperm^-Monocotyledon^ 

GRAMINE^ 

Poacites,  sp.  Plate  32,  fig.  2. 

This  is  evident^  a  portion  of  a  leaf  blade  of  some  monocotyle- 
don, apparently  a  grass,  and  may  be  compared  with  similar 
fragments  described  under  the  genus  Poacites,  such  as  P.  Icsvis 
Al.Br.,  depicted  by  Heer  in  Fl.Tert.  Helvet., vol.  i,  pi.  25,  fig.  10, 
P.  finnus  Heer,  ibid.,  fig.  11,  etc. 

In  soft  clay,  Slaughter-Pen  bluff,  Shreveport,  La. 

CYPERACE^ 

Cyperites,  sp.  Plate  32,  figs.  3,  4. 

These  specimens  are  evidently  fragments  of  monocotyledons, 
which  may  be  placed  in  the  genus  Cyperites  for  convenience, 
although  they  might  equally  well  be  considered  as  belonging  to 
the  Palms. 

In  soft  clay,  Slaughter-Pen  bluff,  Shreveport,  La. 


28o  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Angiosperm^<:-Dicotylkdon.«; 

JUGLANDACE.^ 
Juglans  rugosa,  Plate  35,  figs,  i,  2. 

J2igla7is  rugosa  Lesq.,  Am.  Journ.  Sci.,  vol.  45  (1868),  p.  206  ; 
Ten.  FL,  p.  286,  pi.  54,  figs.  5,  14;  pi.  55,  figs.  1-9;  pi. 
56,  figs.  I,  2. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La, 
Juglans  schimperi,  Plates  32,  fig.  5  ;  33,  figs.  1,2;  35,  fig.  3. 

Jiiglans  sdiimperi  Lesq.,  Ann.  Rep.  U.  S.  Geol.  and  Geog. 
Surv.  Terr.,  1871(1872),  Suppl.,  p.  8  ;  Tert.  FL,  p.  287,  pL 
56,  fig.  5-10. 

Although  these  specimens  vary  considerably  amongst  them- 
selves they  occur  in  such  close  proximit}^  in  the  rock  that  I  havt 
thought  it  advisable  to  include  them  all  under  the  one  species. 
In  regard  to  our  fig.  2,  pi.  33,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  when  com- 
pared with  Lesquereux'  fig.  5,  pi.  56,  above  quoted,  buttheothers 
might  be  more  or  less  successfully  compared  with/,  dubia  Ludw., 
Palaeontog.,  vol.  8,  pi.  59,  figs,  i,  2,  or  with/,  occidentalis  Newb. , 
Later  Ext.  FL,  Monog.  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv., vol.  35,  pi.  65,  fig.  i  ; 
pi.  66,  figs.  1-4. 

In  red  sandstone,  Y^^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

FAGACE.-E 

Quercus  tnicrodentata,  n.  sp.,  Plate  34. 

Leaf  elliptical  in  outline,  about  8>^  in.  long  by  3>^  in.  broad  in  the  middle  ; 
finely  dentate-serrate  from  below  the  center  to  the  apex,  entire  and  wavy 
margined  below  ;  secondary  nervation  fine,  sub-parallel,  leaving  the  midrib 
at  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees,  curving  upward  near  the  margin,  each 
nerve  ending  in  one  of  the  teeth,  or  the  lower  ones  extending  close  to  and 
upward  along  the  margin. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

ULMACE.-E 
Ultnus  tenuinervis,  Plate  32,  fig.  6. 

Ulmus  tenuinervis  Lesq.,  Ann.    Rept.    U.    S.    Geol.  and  Geog. 
Surv.  Terr.,  1873,  (1874),  p.  412  ;  Tert.  FL,  p.  188,  pi.  26, 
figs.  1-3. 
In  red  sandstone,  yi  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  5  :    Fossil  Plants  281 

HORACES 

Artocarpus  dubia,  «.  sp.,  Plate  38,   fig.  3. 

Leaf  irregularly  three-lobed,  lower  lobes  short,  obtuse,  ascending,  middle 
lobe  broadest  near  the  middle  and  tapering  to  a  pointed  apex,  base  wedge- 
shaped  ;  secondary  nei^-ation  pinnate  throughout  and  camptodrome. 

It  is  possible  that  this  may  be  merely  a  young  or  small  leaf  of 
A.  lessigiana  (L,esq.)  Kn.,  but  it  appears  to  be  so  distinct  and  is 
so  well  defined  that  I  have  thought  it  best  to  describe  it  as  a  new 
species. 

In  red  sandstone,  ^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 
Artocarpus  lessigiana,  Plate  37. 

Artocarpus   lessigiana    (Lesq.)    Kn.,    Science,   vol.    21,    (1893), 
p.  24  ;  Myrica  ?  lessigiana  Lesq.,  Ann.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  and 
Geog.  Surv.  Terr.,    1874,(1876),    p.    312;  Myrica  f  lessigii 
Lesq.,  Tert.  Fl.,  p.  136,  pi.  64,  fig.  i. 
In  hard  clay  concretions,  Vineyard  bluff,  Cross   bayou,  (j^^  m. 
above  Slaughter-Pen  bluff)  Shreveport,  La. 

Artocarpus  pungens,  Plate  38,  figs,  i,  2. 

Aralia pimgens  Lesq.,  Cret.    and  Tert.    FL,  p.  123,  pi.  19,  figs. 

3,  4- 
In  red  sandstone,  ^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Ficus  artocarpoides,  ?  Plate  35,  fig.  4. 

Ficus  artocarpoides  Lesq.,  Cret.  and  Tert.  Fl.,  p.  227,  pi.  47,  figs. 

1-5- 
Our  specimen  is   too  imperfect  for  satisfactory   identification 

and  I  have  therefore  only  referred  it  provisionally  to  this  species. 

It  agrees  very  closely  with  Lesquereux,  fig.  3,  above  quoted. 

In  red  sandstone,  ^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Ficus  harrisiana,  n.  sfi.,  Plate  46,  fig,  2. 

Leaf  about  31^  in.  long  by  3>^  in.  broad  across  the  middle  ;  constricted 
to  a  blunt  (?)  apex  and  wedge-shaped  at  the  base  ;  margin  entire  and  wavy  ; 
three-nerved  from  the  base  and  with  two  pairs  of  prominent  sub-opposite 
secondaries  above  ;  midrib  strongest,  basal  nerves  branched  from  the  lower 
side;  all  nervation  finally  thinning  out  and  inosculating  near  the  margin, 
tertiary  nervation  mainly  at  right  angles  to  the  primaries,  secondaries,  and 
sub-secondaries,  but  broken  in  places  by  finer  cross  reticulations. 

It  is  with  hesitation  that  I  have  finally  decided  to  place  this 
leaf  in  the  genus  Ficiis.  In  some  respects  it  suggests  Aralia, 
and  in  others  Hedera  and  in  general  appearance   is    not    unlike 


282  Geological  Survey  of  Loulsiana  [Sect. 

//.  aiiriculata  Heer,  Fl.  Foss.  Arct.,  vol.  2.,  Fl.  Foss.  Alask., 
p.  36,  pi.  9,  fig.  6,  but  it  i.s  a  much  larger  leaf  and  I  have  not 
been  able  to  compare  it  satisfactorily  with  any  described  species 
in  either  genus. 

The  specific  name  is  given  for  Prof.  G.  D.  Harris,  through 
whose  efforts  the  collection  containing  the  specimen  was  brought 
to  my  attention. 

In  clay  concretions.  Vineyard  bluff,  Cross  bayou,  {^/z  mile 
above  Slaughter-Pen  bluff)  Shreveport,  La. 

Picus  planicostata,  Plate  36. 

Ficus  planicostata  Lesq.,  Ann.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  and  Geog. 
Surv.  Terr.,  1872,  (1873),  p.  393;  Tert.  Fl.,  p.  201  pi.  31, 
figs.  1-8,  10-12. 

Our  specimen  is  larger  than  any  of  those  figured  by  I,es- 
quereux,  but  otherwise  it  agrees  too  closely  with  the  species  to 
warrant  a  separation. 

In  soft  clay,  Slaughter-Pen  bluff,  Shreveport,  La. 

Toxylon  longipetiolatum,  ;/.  i/>.  Plate  48. 

Leaf,  exclusive  of  the  petiole,  about  554^  in.  long,  slightly  inequilateral, 
broadest  in  the  middle,  rounded  and  curving  in  a  bow  to  the  base,  some- 
what constricted  to  a  short  point  at  the  apex  ;  margin  entire  ;  petiole  about 
3  in.  long,  curved;  midrib  curved  ;  secondaries  simple,  sub-parallel,  curv- 
ing upward  and  approaching  each  other  near  the  margin,  all  but  the  lower 
two  pairs  alternately  arranged. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

MAGNOLIACE^ 
Magnolia  hilgardiatia,  Plate  39. 

Magyiolia  hilgardiana  Lesq.,  2d  Rept.  Geol.  Recon.  Ark.,  p,  319, 
pi.  6,  fig.  I. 
In  red  sandstone,  ^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 
Magnolia  lanceolata,  Plate  40. 

Magnolia    lanceolata  Lesq.,  Mem.    Mus.    Comp.    Zool.,    vol.    6, 
(1878),  No.  2,  p.  24,  pi.  6,  fig.  4. 
Our  specimen  appears  to  be  merely  a  more  robust  one  of  this 
species.     It  is  also  comparable   perhaps    with  M.   longipetiolata 
Etts.,  as  figured  in  Foss.  Fl.  Bilin,  pi.  41,  figs.  8,  9. 
In  red  sandstone,  ]i  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 


in]  Special  Report  No.  5  :    Fossil  Plants  283 

LAURACE.^.. 

Cinnatnomum  buchi,  Plate  43,  fig.  i. 

Cinnamomum    buchi    Heer,  Fl.    Tert.  Helvet.,    vol.  2,    p.  90,  pi. 
95,  figs.  1-8. 

Our  specimen  appears  undoubtedly  to  be  a  large  one  of  this 
species  although  it  also  closely  resembles  the  allied  species  C. 
polymorphum  (Al.  Br.)  Heer,  as  figured  in  the  above  quoted 
work,  on  plates  93  and  94,  and  C.    spedabile    Heer,   ibid.,  pi.  96. 

In  red  sandstone,  yl  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Cinnamomum  scheuchzeri,  (?)  Plate  41,  fig.  4. 

Cinnamomum  schuchzeri  Heer,  Fl.  Tert,  Helvet.,  vol  2,  p.  85,  pi. 
91,  figs.  4-22;  pi.  92,  figs,  i-iob  ;  pi.  93,  figs.  I,  5. 

The  reference  of  this  specimen  to  the  above  species  is  made 
provisional  on  account  of  its  imperfect  condition ;  there  is  but 
little  doubt,  however,  that  it  is  correct. 

In  soft  clay,  Slaughter-Pen  bluff,  Shreveport,  L,a. 

Cinnamomum  se^jannense,  Plate  42,  fig.  2. 

Cinnamomum     sezannense     Wat.,     PI.     Foss.     Bass.     Paris,    p. 
175,  pl.  50,  fig.  2  ;  C.  dubiimi  Wat.,  ibid.,  p.  176,  pi.  50,  fig. 
4;  Daphnogene pedunculata  Wat.,  ibid.,  p.    178,  pl.    50,  figs. 
6-10;    D.    kmgiqua   Sap.     and    Mar.,  Essai    Veg.     Marnes 
Heers.  Gelind.,  p.  48,  pl.  4,  fig.  7;   D.  sezanne?isis Sap.,  Fl. 
Foss.   Sezanne.,  p.  369  [81],  pl.  29  [8]  fig.  5,  etc. 
There    is  but  little   doubt  that    most,    if   not   all    the   leaves 
described  under  the  above  names  are  referable  to  one  species,  to 
which  our  specimen  belongs.     In  addition  to  the  above  refer- 
ences comparisons  even  more  satisfactory  may  be  made  with  figs. 
5  and  6,  pl.  6,  Essai  Veg.  Marnes  Heers.  Gelind  and  with  figs. 
,  2  and  5,  pl.  9,  Rev.  Fl.  Heers.  Gelind.,  of  Saporta  and  Marion. 
In  hard  clay  concretions.  Vineyard  bluff.  Cross   bayou  {}4  m. 
above  Slaughter- Pen  bluff)  Shreveport,  La. 
Cryptocarya  eolignitica,  n.  sp.,  Plate  42,  fig.  i. 

Leaf  about  6  in.  long  (including  a  petiole  of  about  y^  in.  in  length), 
by  about  "2%  in.  maximum  width,  at  the  middle,  oblong-ovate  in 
outline,  slightly  inequilateral,  entire  and  wavy  margined,  tapering  to  the 
apex,  abruptly  curved  at  the  base  and  extending  a  short  distance  down  the 
petiole  ;  sub-three-nerved  by  the  lower  pair  of  sub-opposite  secondaries, 
which  start  from  a  point  about   Yz    in.  above  the  base  and   curve  strongly 


284  Geological  Survey  of   Louisiana  [vSect. 

upward  ;  upper  secondaries  irregularly  disposed,  curving  upward  and  all 
finally  thinning  out  close  to  the  margin  ;  tertiary  nervation  fine,  forming  a 
series  of  loops  between  the  margin  and  the  outer  sides  of  the  lower  secon- 
daries. 

This  beautiful  leaf  appears  to  be  entireh'  distinct  from  any 
heretofore  described.  It  almost  certainly  belongs  in  the  Lau- 
racecz  and  after  a  number  of  comparisons  with  living  species  in 
the  genera  Phoebe,  O^-eodaphne ,  Litscea,  etc.  I  have  decided  to 
place  it  as  given  above. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 
Daphnogene  kanii,  (?)  Plate  41,  fig.  3. 

Daphnogene  kanii  YLq.^x ,  Fl.  Foss.  Arct.,  vol.  :.,   p.    112,  pi.  14, 
figs.  1-5  ;    pi.  16,  fig.  I. 

If  our  specimen  were  in  a  better  state  of  preservation  it  would 
probably  not  be  necessary  to  question  the  reference  to  the  above 
species,  of  which  it  seems  to  be  a  small  form.  I  have  thought 
it  best  to  so  refer  it  however,  rather  than  to  attempt  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  new  species  founded  upon  fragmentary  material. 

In  hard  clay  concretion,  Vineyard  bluff,  Cross  bayou  (_^  m. 
above  Slaughter-Pen  bluff)  Shreveport,  La. 

I/aurus  pritnigenia,  Plate  41,  figs,  i,  2. 

Laurus primigenia  Ung.,  Gen.  et  Sp.  PI.  Foss.,  p.  423. 

I  have  included  our  specimens  under  this  protean  species 
largely  for  the  reason  that  they  may  be  satisfactorily  compared 
with  figures  of  specimens  referred  by  other  authors  to  the  same 
species,  notably  by  Heer,  in  Fl.  Foss.  Arct.,  vol.  7,  pi.  77,  figs. 
8-13,  and  pi    78,  figs.  i-ii. 

In  red  sandstone,  %.  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 
Persea  speciosa,  Plate  41,  fig.  5. 

Persea  speciosa  Heer,  Fl.  Tert.  Helvet.,  vol.  2,  p.  81,  pi.  90,  figs. 
II,  12  ;    pi.  100,  fig.  18. 

In  red  sandstone,  3^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 
Tetranthera  praecursoria,  Plate  44,  figs.  3,  4. 

Tetranthera  prcrcursoria  Lesq.,  Cret.   and  Tert.    FL,  p.  228,  pi. 

48.  fig-  2. 
In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 


Ill]  SPEcrA.L  Repo  rt  No.  5  :    Fossil  Plants  285 

AQUIFOLIACE.^. 

Ilex?  affinisi?),  Plate  44,  fig.  2. 

//(?;trf  a/^«z5  Lesq.,  Ann.  Rept.  U.  S.  Geol.  and  Geog.  Surv.  Terr., 
Suppl.  1871,  (1872),  p.  8;  Tert,.  Fl.,  p.  270,  pi.  50, 
figs.  2,  3. 

Our  specimen  is  too  imperfect  for  accurate  comparison,  but  it 
appears  to  be  an  Ilex  and  is  sufficiently  near  to  Lesquereux' 
species  for  at  least  provisional  reference. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Ilex,  sp.,  Plate  43,  figs.  2,  3. 

The  two  fragments  figured  apparently  represent  a  leaf  related 
to  the  genus  Ilex  or  perhaps  to  Celaslrus,  but  they  are  too  indefi- 
nite either  for  satisfactory  comparison  or  as  a  basis  for  the 
description  of  a  new  species.  Figures  more  or  less  closely 
resembling  ours  may  be  seen  under  /.  longifolia  Heer.,  Fl.  Foss. 
Arct.,  vol.  i.,  pi.  48,  figs.  3-6  and  /.  hibschi  Engelh.,  Sitzb. 
Isis,  Jahrg.  1891,  pi.  i,  fig.  1. 

In  soft  clay.  Slaughter-Pen  bluff,  Shreveport,  La. 

CELASTRACE.E 

Celastrus  taurinensis  (?)  Plate  46,  fig.  r. 

Celaslrns  taurinensis  Ward,  T^'pes  Laram.  Fl.,  Bull.  V .  S.  Geol. 
Surv.  No.  37,  p.  79,  pi.  34,  figs.  5,  6. 

This  specimen  is  placed  provisionalh'  under  the  above  name 
as  it  is  too  imperfect  for  accurate  identification.  That  it  belongs 
in  the  genus  Celastrus  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  as  may  be 
seen  by  comparison  with  the  figures  above  quoted  and  also  with 
the  closely  allied  species,  C.  abiifoliiis  Ward,  ibid.,  p.  80,  pi.  35, 
figs  I,  2.  and  C.  borealis  Yi&ox ,  Fl.  Foss.  Arct.,  vol.  2,  Fl.  Foss. 
Alask.,  p.  37,  pi.  10,  fig.  4.  In  fineness  of  serration  it  more 
nearly  resembles  the  latter  two  species  while  in  its  nervation  it 
is  more  like  the  species  to  which  it  is  provisionally  referred, 
especially  as  indicated  in  fig.  5  above  quoted. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Celastrus  veatchi,  n.  sp,,  Plate  43,  figs.  4,  5. 

Leaf  about  3  in.  long  by  ifi  in.  broad  in  the  middle,  elliptical  in  outline, 
tapering  about  equally  to  base  and  apex,  obtusely  or  crenately  toothed  or 
the  lower  portion  merely  wavy,  with  a  blunt  tip  at  the  apex  ;  midrib  strong 


286  Geological   Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

and  straight  ;  secondary  nervation  well  defined,  curving  upward,  becoming 
brochidodronie  or  sub-caniptodronie  through  the  tertiary  nervation,  with 
fine  nervilles  extending  to  the  teeth  and  margin. 

These  leaves  closely  resembles  those  of  Elceocarpus  eiiropceiis 
Etts.,  Foss.  Fl.  Bilin,  Part  III.,  p.  i6,  pi.  43,  figs.  6-10,  but 
ours  almost  certainly  belong  in  the  genus  Celastrus  and  I  have 
thought  it  best  to  consider  them  as  a  distinct  species. 

The  name  is  given  for  Mr.  A.  C.  Veatch,  the  collector. 

In  red  sandstone,  ^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

SAPINBACE^ 
Sapindus  angustifolius,  Plate  35,  fig.  5. 

Sapiiidus  angustifolius  Lesq.    Ann.  Rept.  U.   S.  Geol.  and  Geog. 
Surv.  Terr.,  1873  (1874),  p.   415  ;  Tert.  Fl.,  p.   265,  pi.  49, 
figs.  2-7. 
This  little  leaf  appears  undoubtedly   to   belong   to  the  above 
species,  although  it  might  almost  equally'  well  be  compared  with 
the  leaf  figured  as  Quercus  elcena  Ung.   by  Lesquereux  in  Cret. 
and  Tert.  Fl. ,  pi.  28,  fig.  11.   Its  identity  with  the  genus  Sapindus, 
however,  is  much  closer  than  with  Quercus. 

In  gray  sandstone,  i  ra.  west  of  Shreveport,  La.  (K.  C.  P.  & 
G.  R.  R.  cut). 

RHAMNACE.E 
Rhamnus  cleburni,  Plate  47,  fig.  i. 

Rhamiius  cieburni  Lesq.,  Ann.    Rept.    U.    S.  Geol-    and    Geog. 
Surv.,  Terr.,  1872,   (1873),  p.  381  :  Tert.  Fl..  p.  2S0,  pi.  53, 
figs.  1-3. 
In  red  sandstone,  ^  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

CORN  ACE. 'E 

Cornus  studeri  (?)  Plate  45,  fig.  2. 

Cor?ijis  sticderi  Heer,  Fl.   Tert.   Helvet.,  vol.    3,     p.    27,    pi.  105, 
fig.  18-21, 

In  referring  our  specimen  provisionally  to  this  species  I  have 
followed  the  example  of  Lesquereux,  who  also  questioned  the 
reference  of  his  specimens  to  the  species.  There  can  be  but 
little  doubt,  however,  that  ours  is  identical  with  the  one  figured 
by  Lesquereux  in  Tert.  Fl.,  pi.  42,  fig.  5. 

In  red  sandstone,   %  "^-  above  Coushatta,  La. 


ni]  Special  Report  No.  5  :    Fossil  Plants  287 

ERICACE.^. 

Andromeda  delicatula,  Plate  45,  fig.  i. 

Andromeda  delicatula  \^es<\. ,  Cret.  and  Tert.  Fl.,   p.    175,  pi.   34, 

figs.    10,    II. 

Our  leaf  appears  undoubtedly  to  belong  to  this  species, 
although  considerabh^  larger  than  either  of  those  figured  by 
Lesquereux. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Andromeda  eolignitica,  n.  sp..  Plate  47,  fig.  2. 

Leaf  lanceolate  in  outline,  entire,  about  6  in.  long  by  1%  in.  wide  at  the 
middle,  tapering  gradually  to  the  base  and  somewhat  more  abruptly  to  the 
apex,  which  is  constricted  and  narrowed  into  a  point  ;  midrib  strong  and 
conspicuous  ;  secondary  nervation  not  visible. 

This  leaf  was  probably  of  thick  leathery  texture,  in  which  the 
finer  nervation  was  hidden.  In  outline  it  closely  resembles  the 
leaves  figured  b}'  Lesquereux  as  Fiats  laiiceolata  Heer,  in  Tert. 
Fl.  pi.  28,  fig.  1-5,  and  also  some  of  those  figured  by  Heer  as 
Salix  longa  Al.  Br.,  in  Fl.  Foss.  Arct.,  vol.  3,  Nachtr.  Mioc.  Fl. 
Gronl.,  pi.  4,  figs.  7-10  ;  but  inasmuch  as  the  secondary  nerva- 
tion in  ours  is  lacking,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  give  it  a  new 
name. 

In  red  sandstone,   ^4  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

SAPOTACE.E 
Sapotacites  americanus,  Plate  42,  fig.  3. 

Sapoiaciies  aiuericamis  Lesq.,   in  vSafford's   Geol.   Tenn.,   p.  428, 
pi.  7  [K],  fig.  8. 

In  red  sandstone,  yl  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

OLEACE.E. 

Fraxinus  johnstrupi  (?)  Plate  44,  fig.  i. 

Fraxinus  johnstrupi  Yi^^x,  Fl.  Foss.  Arct.,  vol.  7,  p.  113.  pi. 
80,  figs  1,2. 

In  comparing  this  leaf  with  figures  of  described  species  I 
found  it  almost  impossible  to  decide  between  the  one  above 
quoted  and  Querciis jiiglandina  Heer,  ibid.,  p.  89,  pi.  71,  fig.  19; 


288  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

pi.  74,  figs.  4-7:  pi.  76,  fig.  12,  and  pi.  102,  fig.  9a,  especiallyin 
regard  to  fig.  7,  pi.  74.  It  also  has  some  resemblance  to  Ilex 
grandi/olia  Lesq.,  Cret.  and  Tert.  Fl.,  p,  187,  pi.  38,  fig.  i,  but 
Lesquereux'  specimen  is  too  fragmentary  for  accurate  com- 
parison. 

In  red  sandstone,  %  m.  above  Coushatta,  La 

APOCVNACE.'E. 

Apocynophyllum  sapindifolium,  n.  s/>.,  Plate  46,  fig.  3. 

Leaf  lanceolate,  entire,  slightly  inequilateral,  narrowed  and  decurrent  for 
a  short  distance  at  the  base  ;  midrib  strong  ;  secondaries  thin  and  regular, 
leaving  the  midrib  at  an  acute  angle  near  the  base,  at  a  slightly  more 
obtuse  angle  upward,  running  parallel  to  each  other  for  a  short  distance, 
and  approaching  each  other  close  to  the  margin,  where  they  curve  upward; 
tertiary  nervation  straight,  sub-parallel  and  essentially  at  right  angles  to 
the  secondaries. 

This  leaf  might  be  provisionally  referred  to  several  described 
species  tinder  the  genera  E'tc7is  and  Laurus,  but  some  slight  dif- 
ference in  each  instance  has  led  me  to  think  that  it  represents  a 
new  species.  Interesting  comparisons  may  however  be  made 
with  Ficus  lanccolata  (Heer),  Web.,  as  figured  by  Lesquereux 
in  Tert.  FL,  pi.  28,  figs.  1-5  ;  Laiitiis  princepsY{&^x ,  by  the  same 
author,  in  Cret.  and  Tert.  Fl.  pi.  58,  fig.  2  and  L.  primigenia 
Ung.,  as  figured  by  Velenovsky  in  Tert.  Fl.  Laun,  pi.  5,  figs.  1-5. 
In  red  sandstone,  yi  m.  above  Coushatta,  La. 

Note.  — After  page  proof  of  this  report  had  been  set  up  my  attention  was 
called  to  a  paper  b}-  Professor  H.  Engelhardt,  entitled  "  L'eber  Tertiarpflan- 
zen  von  Chile,"  (Abh,  Senckenb.  Naturf.  Gesellsch.  vol.  16  (1891),  pp. 
629-692.  pis.  I -14)  in  which  are  described  and  figured  a  number  of  species 
identical  with  ours  but  under  different  names.  Of  special  interest  is  his 
Goeppertia  spectabilis,  which  is  undoubtedly  identical  with  my  Cryplocarya 
eolignitica,  in  which  case  Engelhardt's  name  has  precedence. 

A     H, 


GEOLOGiCAi,  Survey  ok  Louisiana,  Report,  1S99 

6 


Plate  32 


I.     Pteris  pseudopenncsfortnis  I^esq.     2.     Poacites  sp.     3, 4.     Cyperites  sp. 
5.  Juglans  sckimperi  I,esq.  6.    Ulnius  teniiinervis  Lesq.  Pp.   279-280 


Geolo(;icai,  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1899 


Plate  33 


I,  2.     fuglans  schiniperi  Lesq.     P.  280 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  i8 


Plate  34 


Quercus  microdentafa,  n.  sp.  x  %.    P.   280 


Geologicai-  Si'KVEY  OF  LorisiA.vA.  Kki'okt,  1899 


I,  2.  Juglans  rugosa  Lesq.  P.  280.   3.  Juglans  schitnperi  Lesq.   P.  280.   4.  Ficus 
ai'tocarpoides'L&?:i\.'^    P.  281.      5.  Sapindus  angustifolius'L.esq.    P.  286. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,    i8 


Plate  36 


Fiats  planu'os/a/a  hesq.     P.   282. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Rei-ort,  1899 


Plate  37 


A rlocarfius /essigiana  (hesq.)  Kn.    l"^^  nat.  size.     P.  281 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana.  Report,  1S99 


Plate  ^8 


I,  2.     Aiiocarpus pungens{l.esi\).     3.     Artocarpus  dubia,  n.  sp.     P.  281 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1899 


Plate  39 


Magnolia  hilgardiana  Lesq.     P.  282 


Geoi-ogicai,  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report.  i8 


Plate  40 


Magnolia  lanceolatahsisq^.,  x  ^.     P.  282 


Geologicai,  Survey  of  Louisiana.  Report,  1S99 


Plate  41 


1,2.     Laurus  primigenia  Ung.     3.     Daphnogene  kanii  l^^&x.l    4.     Cin- 
namotHuni  scheuchzeri  Heer.  ?    5.     Persea  speciosa  Heer.     Pp.  283-284. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1899 


Plate  42 


I.     Cryptocarya  eolignitica,   n.   sp.        2.     Cinnanwmuni  sezannense   Wat. 
P.  283.     3      Sapotaates  aniericanus  Lesq.     P.  287 


Geological  Survicv  ok  LofisiANA,  Kkport,  1899 


Pl.ATK  43 


I.     Clunamomwin  buchi  Yi^^r.      P.  2S3.       2,3.     Ilex  sp. 
4,  5.  Celastrwi  veatchi,  n    ?p.     P.  285. 


Geological  Survey  of  Lovisiana,  Report,  1S99 


Plate  44 


I.     Fraxinus  johnsirupi  Yi&&r.l    P.   287.       2.      /lex?  qffinis  hesq.?      P.  285. 
3,  4.      Tetra7ithera  pro'cursoria  Lesq.    P.  284. 


Geological  Survky  of  Lgi'isia.va,  Report,  i8 


Plate  45 


I.     Andromeda  delicatula 'L^hq.    P.   287.     2.     Cornus  s/ude/i  Heer.  ?  P.  2S6 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1S99 


Plate  46 


I.     Ce/asirt/s  iaurinensis  Ward.  ?  P.  285.      2.   Ficus  harrisiana,  n.  s^.    P. 
281.     3.     Apocynophyllum  sapindifoliuni,  n.  sp.     P.  288 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Kki'ort,  i6 


Plate  47 


I.     Rhamnus  cleburni  Lesq.     P.  286.     2.     Andromeda  eolignitica, 
n.  sp.     P.  287 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  li 


Plate  4S 


Toxylon  longipetiolatutn ,  n.  sp.,  3^  nat.  size.      P.  282 


Special  Report  No.  6 

THE  CRETACEOUS  AND    LOWER    EOCENE    FAUNAS 
OF  LOUISIANA 

BY 

G.  D.  Harris 


CONTENTS 


Cretaceous 

Explanatory  Remarks 

PELECYPODA 

Exogyra  costata,  292 

Gryphaea  vesicularis,  292 

Ostrea  larva,  293 

Ostrea  plumosa,  293 

Neithea  quinquecostata,  294 

Catnptonectes  burlingtonensis,  294 

I/imapelagica,  294 

Cardium  alabamense,  394 

Inoceramus  barabini  ?  295 

Veniella,  sp.,  295 

Cras'satella  vadosa,  295 

Thetis,  sp.,  295 

Trigonia  eufaulensis,  295 

I/inearea  metastriata,  296 

I<eguineii  planulatum,  296 

GASTROPODA 

Avellana  bullata,  296 
I<axispira  lumbricalis,  296 

CEPHALOPODA 

Ptychoceras,  near  crassum,  297 
Heteroceras,  297 
Baculites  anceps,  297 


290  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  Sect 

BRACHIOPODA 

Terebratulina,  sp.,  297 

Eocene 

Midway   Stage 

PELIiCYPODA 

Ostrea  crenulitnarginata,  297 
Ostrea  pulaskensis,  298 
Modiola  stubbsi,  298 

GASTROPODA 

Turritella  mortoni,  299 
Fusus  harrisi,  299 
I/ciostoma  ?   ludoviciana,  299 

LiGNiTic  Stage 

PPZLECYPODA 

Ostrea  thirsae,  300 
Modiola  alabamensis,  300 
Pinna,  300 

Barbatia  cucuUoides,  301 
I/cda  aldrichiana,  var. ,  301 
I/cda  corpulentoides,  301 
Venericardia  planicosta,  302 
Astarte  smithvillensis,  302 
Crassatella,  sp  ,  302 
Kellia  prima,  302 
Mactra  bistriata,  303 
Corbula  alabamensis,  303 
Ivucina  ozarkana,  303 
Cardium  tuomeyi,  303 
Ceronia,  sp.,  304 
Pholas  alatoideus,  304 

GASTROPODA 

Pleurotoma  huppertzi,  var.,  304 
Pleurotoma  silicata,  304 
Pleurotomella  veatchi,  305 
Buccinanops  ellipticum,  305 
Pseudoliva  vetusta,  var.,  305 
I^evifusus  indentus,  306 


ni]  Special  Report  No.  6  :   Marine  Fossils  291 

Cancellaria  quercoUis,  var.,  greggi,  305 

Volutilithes  petrosus,  305 

l/cvifustis  supraplanus,  306 

I/Cvifusus  pagoda,  306 

l/cvifusus  trabeatus,  306 

Ma^zalina  plena,  306 

Tritonidea  pachecoi,  306 

Nassa  exilis,  307 

Calyptraphorus  velatus,  307 

Cassidaria  brevidentata,  307 

Pusoficula  juvenis,  307 

Turritella  mortoni,  308 

Turritella  humerosa,  308 

Turritella  praecincta,  308 

Natica  etninula,  308 

Natica  aperta,  308 

Natica  alabamiensis,  308 

Sigaretus  declivus,  308 

Solarium  bellense,  309 


292  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Cretaceous 

Explanatory  Remarks 

We  have  seen  how,  early  in  the  century,  several  fictitious  Cre- 
taceous localities  and  fossils  were  mentioned  from  eastern  Louis- 
sana  and  how  Hilgard,  Hopkins,  Learch  and  others  have  since 
mentioned  Exogyra  costata  and  Grypht^a pitcheriiromth.^  salt  licks 
of  northern  Louisiana.  The  latter  fossil  having  been  proven  by 
Vaughan  to  have  been  improperly  identified,  Exogyra  costata  has 
remained  the  only  well  authenticated  Cretaceous  species  in  Louis- 
iana. It  is  owing  to  Mr.  Veatch's  energy  that  we  have  now  a 
fairly  good  representation  of  the  Cretaceous  fauna  of  this  State. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Stanton  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  has  kindly 
looked  over  and  labeled  themajority  of  the  more  perfect  specimens; 
and  hence  the  names  which  follow  may  be  regarded  as  his  iden- 
tifications. 

PELECYPODA 
Bxogyra  costata,  Plate  49,  fig.  i. 

Syn. — E.  costata  Say,  Jour.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  vol.  2,  p.  43, 
1820. 
E.  costata  White,  U.  S.  G.  S.,  4th  Ann.  Rept.,  p.  304,  pis. 

56-57,  figs.  I  and  2,  1884. 
E.  costata  Whitfield,  U.  S.  G.  S.,Mon.  9,  p.  39,  pi.  6,  figs. 

I  and  2,  1885. 
E.  costata  Say,  Bull.  Am.  Pal.,  vol.  i,  p.  291,  1896. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  and  characteristic  molluscan 
species  in  the  Cretaceous  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States.     The 
smaller  or  operculated  valve  only  is  herewith  figured  since  our 
collections  have  not  as  yet  furnished  any  of  the  larger  valves. 

Localities. — Ray  burn's  salt  work,  Bienville  parish.  La. — Veatch 
(specimen  figured).     King's  salt  work. — Hilgard. 
Gryphaea  vesicularis,  Plate  49,  fig.  2 ;  PI.  50,  figs,  i  and  2. 

Syn. — O.  vesicularis  Lam.,  Am.  du  Mus.  vol.  8,  p.  160, pi.  22,  fig. 
3,  1808. 
Gryphcea  convexa  Morton,   Jour.    Acad.  Nat.  Sci.    Phila., 
vol.  6,  pp.  79-80,  pi.  4,  figs.  I,  2,  1828-31. 


ni]        Special  Report  No.  6  :  Cretaceous  Fossils        293 

G.  mutabilis  Morton,  ibid.,  pp.  81-83,  pl-  4)  fig-  3- 

G.  convexa  Morton,  Synopsis,  etc.,  1834,  p. 53,  pl.  4,  figs. 

I  and  2. 
G.  mutabilis  Morton,  ibid.,  fig.  3. 
G.  vesicularis  White,    4th  Ann.  Rept.  U.  S.  G.  S.,  p.  303, 

pl.  48,  figs.  1-5. 
"  G  vesicularis  Lam?  "  Whitf.,  U.  S.  G.  S.,  Mon.,  9,  p.  36, 
pl.  3,  figs.  15  and  13,  pl.  4,  figs.  1-3,  pl.  5,  1885. 
This  species  is  widely  distributed  in  the  Cretaceous  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  States.     It  also  occurs  in  beds  of  like  horizon 
in  Europe.     The  Arkansas  and  Texas  form  of  this  species  is  the 
same  as  the  one  herewith  figured. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  work,  Bienville  parish.  La. 

Ostrea  larva,  Plate  49,  fig.  3, 

Syn. — O.  larva  Lam.,  An.  sans  Vert.,  vol.  6,  p.  216,  18 19. 

O.falcata  Morton,   Jr.  Acad.    Nat.    Sci.    Phila.,    v'ol.    6, 

pl.  I,  fig.  2. 
O.falcata  Morton,  Synop.  Org.  Rem.  Cret.  Group,  U.  S., 

1834,  p. 50,  pl.  3,  fig.  5,  pl.  9,  figs.  6,  7. 
O.  (^Alectryonia)  larva  White,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  4th  Ann, 
Rep.,  1884,  p.  296,  pl.  42,  figs.  2-9. 
This  is  a  ver^^  common  species  from  the  Upper  Cretaceous  of 
the  Atlantic  sea  border  and  Gulf  States.     It  occurs  also  in  beds 
of  similar  age  in  Europe  and  southern  Asia. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  work,  Bienville  parish,  La. 

Ostrea  plumosa,  Plate  49,  fig.  4. 

Syn. — O.  pluynosa  Mort.,  Synopsis  Organic  Remains,  Cretaceous 
Group,  U.  S.,  p.  51,  pl.  3,  fig.  9,  1834. 
O.  plumosa  Whitf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  Mon.   9,  p.  31,  pl. 
3,  figs.  12,  13,  1885. 
Our  specimens  do  not  show  such  coarse  radii  as  Morton's  fig- 
ure indicates,  nor  do  they  show  the  undulations  indicated  by 
Whitfield's  figures.     Yet  we  feel  little  hesitation  in  assigning 
them  to  this  species. 

Originally  described  from  Arneytown,  N.  J. 
Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works.  La. 


294  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Neithea  quinquecostata  ?  Plate  49,  fig.  6,  7. 

Syn. — Peden  qiimquecostata  (Sowerby)    Morton,  Am.  Jour.  Sci., 
vol.  18,  pi.  3,   fig.  6,    1830.      Synop.   Org.   Rem.,   p. 
57,  pi.   19,  fig.  I,  1834. 
Neithea  qjiinquecostata  Whitf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  Mon.  9, 
p.  56,  pi.  8,  figs.  12-14,  1885. 
Our  specimens  are  all  small  and  cannot  be  identified  with  this 
species  beyond  doubt. 

This  is  one  of  those  forms  showing  an  almost  universal  dis- 
tribution. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

Camptonectes  burling-tonensis,  Plate  50,  fig.  3. 

Syn. — Pede7i  biirlingtonejisis  Gabb,   Acad.   Nat.  Sci.    Phil.,  Jr., 
vol.  4,  p.  304,  pi.  48,  fig.  25,  i860. 
Caniptonedes  {Anitisiiivi)  burling to7ie7isi s  W\\\\.{., \] .  S.Geol. 
Surv.,  Mon,  9,  p.  53,  pi.  8,  figs.  3-9,  1885. 
The  specimen  figured  is  very  finely  and  beautifully  marked. 
There  are  concentric  broad  undulations  about  the  beak  ;  over  the 
whole    surface    are    concentric   lines    averaging    perhaps    one- 
twentieth  or  thirtieth  inch  apart ;  between  these  extend  radially 
very  fine  and  sharply  defined  lines,  the  characteristic  markings 
of  Campionedes. 

Described  originally  from  Burlington  County,  N.  J. 
Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works.  La. 

I/itna  pelagica,  Plate  49,  fig.  5. 

Syn.— Plagiostotfia pelagica  Morton,   Amer.  Jr.  Sci.,  vol.    23,   p. 
293,  pl-  5,  fig-  2,  1833. 
P.  pelagictini  Morton,  Synop.  Org.  Rem.,  p.  61,  pi.  5,  fig. 

2,  1833. 
Radtila pelagica  Whitf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  Mon.  9,  p.  61, 
pi.  9,  figs.  3-5,  1885. 
Described  originally  from  the  Lower  Greensand  marls  of  New 
Jer.sey. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

Cardium  alabamense,  Plate  50,  fig.  4. 

Stanton  has  so  labeled  several  imperfectly  preserved  specimens 
in  our  collections. 


Ill]       Special  Report  No.  6  :  Cretaceous  Fossils         295 

Locality. — Rayburii's  salt  works. 

Inoceramus  barabini,  Plate  51,  fig.  2. 

Syn. — Probably  the  same  as  /.  barabini  Mori.,  Synop.  Org.  Rem., 
p.  62,  pi.  17,  fig.  3  and  pi.  13,  fig.  II,  1834. 
Also  probably  the  same  as  /.  barabiyii  Whitf-,  U.  S.  Geol. 
Surv.,  Mon.,  p.  75,  pi.  15,  figs.  3-5,  1885. 
Originally  described  from  the  Cretaceous  of  Green   Co.,  Ala., 
and  named  in  honor  of  Joseph'  Barabino  of  New  Orleans. 
Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

Veniella  sp.,  Plate  50,  fig.  8. 

Syn. — Cf.  V.  rhomboidea  Con.,  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  Jr.,  vol. 
2,  p.  275,  pi.  24,  fig.  7,  1853. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  about  the  generic  affinities  of  these 
imperfect  .specimens,  but  specifically  they  are  unidentifiable. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

Crassatella  vadosa,  Plate  50,  fig.  5. 

Syn. — C.  vadosa  Morton,  Synop.  Org.  Rem  ,  p.   66,   pi.    13,    fig. 
12,  1834.      ^-  "'■'('■dosa  Whtf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,   Mon.   9,    p. 
1 17,  pi.  17,  figs.  12-15. 
Our  specimens  are  all  small,  but  they  .seem  to  agree  well  with 
the  general  character  of  this  species,  .so  far  as  can  be  judged. 
Locality. — Ra3'burn's  salt  works. 

Thetis  sp.,  Plate 50,  fig.  6. 

This  little  specimen  is  verj^  well  preserved  exteriorly  but  both 
valves  are  together,  closed,  so  that  the  interior  of  the  shell  cannot 
be  studied  without  damaging  the  specimen. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

Trigonia  eufaulensis,  Plate  50,  fig.  9. 

Syn. — T.  eufaulensis  Gabb,  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  Jr.,  vol.  4,  p. 
396,  pi.  68,  fig.  32,  i860. 
T.  eufaulensis  Whitf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  Mon.   9,  p.  113, 
pi.  14,  figs.  1-4. 
These  specimens  like  the  typical  forms  at   Eufaula,  Alabama 
are  rather  small. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 


296  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

I<iiiearia  metastriata,  Plate  50,  fig.  7. 

Syn. — L.  metastriata  Con,,  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Jr.,  vol.  4,  p.  279,  pi. 
46,  fig.  7,  i860. 
L.  metastriata  Whitf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  Mon.  9,  p.  165, 
pi.  23,  figs.  6-7,  1885. 
This  is  a  beautiful  little  species   preserving   not  only  all    the 
delicate  surface  markings,  but  also  some  of  the  original  color  of 
the  shell. 

Originally  described  from  Eufaula,  Ala. 
Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

IVegumeii  planulatum,  Plate  51,  fig.  i. 

Syn. — Solemya  planulata  Con.,  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  Jr.,  vol. 
2,  p.  274,  pi.  24,  fig.  II.     Legiimen  plaiuilattini   Con., 
Acad,  etc.,  Jr.  vol.  4,  p.  277. 
Legum.e7i planulatum  Whitf.,  U.  S.  Geol.   Surv.,   Mon.  9, 
p.  184,  pi.  25,  figs.  3-4. 
Specimens  all  imperfect,  yet  showing  well  their  characteristic 
flattened  form 

Locality. — Rayburn's  .salt  works. 

GASTROPODA 
Avellana  buUata, 

Syn. — "  Toynitellaf  bullata'^  Morton,  Synop.   Org.   Rem.,  p.  48, 

pi.  5,  fig.  3,  1834. 

Avellana  bullata^\a\.^^\d.,\^ .  ^.   Geol.   Surv.,    Mon.    18, 

p.  163,  pi.  20,  figs.  1-4,  1892. 

Though  we  possess  but  a  small  fragment  of  this  species,  it  is 

sufl&cient  to  show  the  characteristic  labrum  and  surface  markings 

of  the  species. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  salt  works. 

I^axispira  lumbricalis,  Plate  51,  fig.  3. 

Syn. — L.  lumbricalis  is  Gabb.  Ac.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila.,  Proc,  1876,  p. 

301,  pi.  17,  fig.  7. 

L.  lumbricalis  Whitfield,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,   Mon.    18,  p. 

148,  pi.  18,  fig.  25. 

The  figures  represent  but  small  portions  of  perfect  specimens 

of  this  species.     They  show,  however,   the   characteristic  spiral 

markings. 

Locality. — Rayburn's  .salt  works. 


Ill]    Special  Report  No.  6  :  Midway  Eocene  Fauna    297 

CEPHALOPODA 

Ptychoceras,  near  crassutn,  Plate  51,  fig.  5. 

See  Rept.  Geol.   Black  Hills  of  Dakota,   by  Whitfield,   p.  459, 
plate  16,  figs.  3-5,  1880.     See  also  Meek's  report  U.  S.  Geol. 
Surv.  Terr.,  vol.  9,  p.  412,  plate  20,  figs.  4a-d,  -P.  mortoni. 
Locality-  R.ayburn's  salt  works. 

Heteroceras  sp.,  Plate  51,  fig. 4. 

See  Turrilites pauper  Witf.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  Mon.  18,  p.  268, 
plate  45,  figs  1-4. 

We  do  not  feel  quite  satisfied  that  Z/'<?/(?r(?<;^ra>y  is  the  name  that 
will  finally  be  applied  to  sinistral  cephalopoda  of  this  type. 
However,  this  is  a  very  interesting  specimen  and  deserves  to  be 
figured  in  this  place. 

Locality .-Kz.yhwrvi' s  salt  works. 

Baculites  anceps,  Plate  51,  fig.  6. 

Syn. — This  species  Stanton  has  regarded  as  anceps  oi  lyamarck, 
and  probably  regarded  it  as  synonymous  with  B.  asper  Morton. 

Only  small  fragments  have  been  so  far  found.  They  show 
the  low  undulations  of  asper  as  figured  by  Morton,  though  the 
suture  line  is  not  determinable. 

Z.^^Tdt/zV}'. -Ray burn's  salt  works. 

BRACHIOPODA 

Terebratulina  sp.,  Plate  51,  fig.  7. 

We  have  not  seen  any  species  figured  that  looks  just  like  this. 
Whitfield's  figures  of  Terebratella  vanuxemi  and  T.  plicata  from 
N.  J.  have  much  coarser  costae.  The  same  is  true  of  T.  sayi 
Morton. 

Z.^ra/z/j'-.-Ray burn's  salt  works. 

KOCENE 

Midway  Stage 

PELECYPODA 

Ostrea  crenulitnarginata,  Plate  52,  figs.  i.  a. 

Syn.    O.    crenulimarginata  Gabb,    Jr.   Acad.   Nat.  Sci.,    Phila., 
2dser.,  vol.  4,  p.  398,  plate  68,  figs.  40,  41,  i860. 


298  Geological  Survey  of  L,ouisiana  [Sect. 

For  general  synonymy  and  description,   see  Bull.   Am.  Pal., 
vol.  I,  p.  159,  1896. 

The  state  of  preservation  of  this  species  in  Lousiana  is  not  the 
best.  Specimens  are  firmly  imbedded  in  the  rock  and  fragments 
only  can  usually  be  obtained.  In  the  bed  of  the  brook  however, 
there  were  a  few  loose, fairly  well  preserved  specimens.  It  is  these 
oyster  shells  that  gave  the  rock  in  which  they  they  are  imbedded 
its  limy  character. 

Localit] — Raines'  place,  near  Rocky  Spring  church,  about  six 
miles  W.  S.  W.  of  Marthaville,  Sabine  Parish.  The  writer  has 
personally  collected  this  species  also  near  the  Cretaceous-Eocene 
border  line  in  Texas,  Arkansas,  Tennessee, Mississippi,  Alabama 
and  Georgia. 

Ostrea  pulaskensis,  Plate  52,  fig.  2,  3,  4. 

Syn. — O.  pulaskensis  Har.,  see  Bull.  Am.  Pal.,  vol.  i,  p.  160. 

This  is  the  Gryphce pitcheri  Hilgard  (Geol.  Recon.,  Final  Rept. 
1869,  p.  29)  without  doubt. 

Mr.  Veatch  found  a  large  number  of  these  03'sters  lying  on 
some  of  the  old  dumps  at  King's  salt  works  ;  and  it  was  probably 
here  that  Hilgard  found  his  specimens. 

Vaughan  has  already  called  attention  (Am.  Geol.,  vol.  15, 
p.  297,  1895  and  elsewhere)  to  the  fact  that  "  G.  pitcheri  is  a 
Comanche  series  fossil  and  does  not  occur  in  the  upper  Creta- 
ceous," but  he  failed  to  state  what  the  Louisiana  specimens 
really  should  be  called. 
Modiola  stubbsi  n.  sp.,  Plate  52,  figs.  5,  6. 

The  general  appearance  and  dimensions  of  this  species  are 
shown  by  the  figures.  It  is  specially  characterized  by  the 
prominent  angulation  on  the  posterio-dorsal  margin,  and  by  the 
coarseness  of  the  plications  between  this  angulation  and  the 
most  posterior  point  on  the  shell.  The  shell  matter  is  thin  and 
its  various  layers  show  a  beautiful  mother-of-pearl  appearance, 
All  specimens  are  broken  and  crumpled  to  a  considerable  extent. 
This  species  seems  to  have  been  the  most  common  associate  of 
the  large  oyster  described  above. 

Locality. — Raines'  place,  about  six  miles  \\\  S.  W.  of  Martha- 
ville. 


Ill]    Special  Report  No.  6  :  Lignitic  Eocene  Fauna    299 

Turritella  mortoni,  Plate  52,  fig.  9. 

Syn. — T.  jnortoni  Con.,  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.,  Phila.,  Jour.  vol.  6, 
p.  221,  pi.  10,  fig.  2,  1830.  See  Bull.  Am.  Pal.,  vol.  i, 
p.  224,  ;  vol.  3,  p.  74. 

The  fragments  of  this  species  are  sufficiently  well  preserved  to 
prove  the  existence  of  this  species  in  association  with  the  large 
oyster  and  the  few  other  species  found  at  the  exposure  given 
below. 

Locality. — Raines'  place,  near  Rocky  Spring  church,  about 
six  miles  W.  S.  W.  of  Marthaville. 

Fusus  harrisi,  Plate  52,  fig.  7. 

Syn. — F-    harrisi  Aid.,    Bull.   Am.    Pal.,    vol.    i,    p.   64,   pi.   5, 

figs.  2  and  8,  1895.     See  also   vol.  3,  p.   43,  1899. 

The  only  specimen  we  have  of  this  species  is  by  no  means 
perfect  as  could  be  desired,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  regarding  its  identification.  It  has  hitherto  been  known 
only  from  the  lower  L,ignitic  at  Gregg's  landing  and  Yellow 
bluff  on  the  Alabama  river. 

Locality. — Raines'  place,  near  Rocky  Spring  Church,  about 
six  miles  W.  S.  W.  of  Marthaville. 

Iveiostoma  (  ?  )  ludoviciana,  n.  sp.,  Plate  52,  fig.  8. 

We  have  a  number  of  fragments  of  this  Caricella- shaped 
species  but  none  show  its  generic  affinities  beyond  question. 
When  broken  oif  anteriorly  the  shell  has  very  much  the  shape 
and  appearance  of  some  varieties  of  Pseudoliva  vetusta,  but  no 
trace  of  the  characteristic  furrow  of  that  genus  has  been  found. 
The  anterior  canal  was  shorter  and  more  twisted  than  in  Caricella. 
More  material  is  needed  for  a  satisfactory  'diagnosis  of  the 
species.  It  is  here  included  on  account  of  its  strange  appear- 
ance and  association. 

Locality. — Raines'  place,  about  six  miles  W.  S.  W.  of  Martha- 
ville, near  Rocky  Spring  church,  Sabine  parish. 

LiGNITIC 

The  fossiliferous  localities  of  Sabinetown  and  Pendleton  on 
the  Texas  side  of  the  Sabine  have  already  been  described  in  this 
report,  pp.  65-67.     Though  they  are  not  on  Louisiana  soil,  the 


300  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

horizons  to  which  they  belong  are  certainly  to  be  found  east  of 
the  Sabine,  though  generally  not  well  exposed. 

Had  these  localities  and  their  fossils  been  described  in  the 
Texas  Survey  reports  or  elsewhere  a  mere  reference  to  them 
would  have  sufficed  here.  But  since  the  Sabinetown  fauna  has 
long  been  misinterpreted  and  that  at  Pendleton  has  been  unknown 
to  previous  writers,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  devoting  some  time 
to  their  study  and  space  to  their  elucidation. 

PELECYPODA 
Ostrea  thirsae,  Plate  53,  fig.  i. 

Syn. — Gryphcsa  thirsiB  Gabb,  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.,  Phila.,  Proc.  1861, 

P-  329- 
Ostrea  thirs^z  Heilp.,  U.  S.  Geol.  Surv.,  3d  Annual,  p.  311, 

pi.  63,  figs.  4,  5,  6. 
O.   thirscB  Har.,    Bull.  Amer.    Pal.,   vol.    2,  p.  40,  pi.  12, 
figs.  5,  6. 
This  species  was  originally  described  from   Nanafalia,  Ala., 
where  it  is  found  in  great  numbers. 

These  specimens  have  in  some  instances  the  true  thirsce  appear- 
ance, but  often  they  grade  towards  what  we  have  believed  to  be 
the  young  of  a  variety  of  O.  trigoyialis  at  Woods  bluff.  See  pi. 
12,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  2. 

Localities.— M2iX\?a2.\\\\^  R.  R.  cut:  well,  S.  W.  yi  S.  W.  ]i  S. 
18,  7  N.  ID  \V. 

Horizoyi. — Lower  Lignitic. 
Ostrea,  sp. 

There  are  numerous  fragments  of  large  oj^sters  found  at  Pen- 
dleton and  elsewhere ;  but  so  far  we  have  not  found  sufficiently 
perfect  specimens  to  warrant  specific  identification. 

Modiola  alabamensis,  Plate  53,  fig.  2. 

Syn. — M.    alabamensis  Aid.,  Bull.  Amer.  Paleont.,  vol.  i,  p.  68, 
pi.  6,  fig.  13,  1895. 

The  specimens  found  are  from  Pendleton,  Texas.  It  will 
doubtless  be  found  in  Sabine  and  other  parishes  of  La.,  where 
the  Lower  Lignitic  rocks  crop  out. 

Pinna  sp. 

No  special  importance  is  attached  to  the  finding  of  fragments 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.   6  :  Lignitic  Fauna  301 

of  specimens  of  this  genus  in  rocks  from  Cretaceous  or  Tertiary 
deposits.  However,  the  silver}^,  scaly  character  of  the  semi- 
disintegrated  shell  is  rather  noticeable  and  is  apt  to  attract  atten- 
tion and  arouse  wonderment  as  to  the  nature  of  the  animal  that 
produced  it.     It  is  a  distant  relative  of  the  pearl  oyster. 

Localities — La  Nana  ba^ou,  near  Many  ;  S.  E.  of  Sodus,  lime- 
stone concretions. 

Horizon — Lower  Lignitic. 

Barbatia  cuculloides,  var.  Plate  53,  fig.  3. 

Syn. — Area  cuculloides  Q.o\\. ,  Foss.  Shells,  Tert.  Form.,  p.  37,  1833. 
B.  cuculloides  Har.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  2,  p.  239,  pi.  14, 
fig.  I,  1897. 

The  members  of  this  division  of  the  Areas  are  somewhat  vari- 
able in  form  and  surface  markings,  and  we  have  been  unable  to 
satisfactorily  differentiate  the  Eocene  species.  In  fact  the  Oli- 
gocene  forms  from  Vicksburg,  are  perhaps  of  one  and  the  same 
species  with  the  Eocene. 

Localities.— ?^x\A\qX.ovl,  Tex.,  S.  W.  }{,  S.  W.  ]i,  S.  18,  7  N., 
10  W.  Marthaville. 

Horizon. — Lower  Lignitic. 

I/eda  aldrichiana,  var.,  Plate  53,  fig.  5. 

Syn. —  Yoldia  aldrichiana   Har.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  2.  p.  245, 
pi.  14,  fig.  15,  June,  1897. 
Leda  acala  Dall.  ,  Tr.   Wag.  Free   Inst.  Sci.,    vol.  3,  586, 
pi.  32,  fig.  3,  Oct.  1898. 
The  Sabinetown    specimens  when  compared  with  those  from 
the  type  locality.  Woods   bluff,  will   be   found  to    be   somewhat 
broader  posteriori}'  or  comparatively  less  ventricose    anteriorly 
than  those  from  the  last  mentioned  locality.     Yet  the  distance 
between  the  localities  is  doubtless   sufiicent  to  account  for  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  variation.     It  would  certainly  be  unwise  to 
propose   a  new  specific  name  for  these  western  specimens  when 
the  differences  are  confined  to  general  outlines  of  the  shells. 
Locality. — Sabinetown,  Texas. 
Horizon. — Upper  Lignitic. 
I/eda  corpulentoides,  var. 
Syn. —  Yoldia  corpulentoides  Aid.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  i,  p.  70, 
pi    6,  fig.  9,  9a,  1S95. 


302  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

See  also  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.  vol.  2,  p.  243. 

We  must  be  in  possession  of  better  .«ipeciniens  from  the  type 
locality  before  we  can  say  just  what  L.  corpulentoides  is.  See 
remarks  on  p.  343,  vol.  2,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.  It  would  seem, 
however,  that  this  is  a  variety'  of  the  species. 

Locality.  —  Pendleton,  Texas. 

Horizon . — Lower  Lignitic. 

Venericardia  planicosta,  Plate  53,  fig.  6. 

Syn. — See  Bull.   Amer.    Pal.,    vol.    i.  p.    172,  vol.  2,    p.    246. 

The  specimens  so  far  found  in  Louisiana  are  rather  smaller 
than  the  average,  but  still  are  well  formed. 

This  is  the  most  typical  and  important  species  of  the  Eocene 
series. 

Lignitic  localities. — Sabinetown;  i  mi.  E.  of  Ft.  Jessup;  Wms. 
farm;  well,  S.  W.  ^  S.  W.  ^  Sect.  18  7  N.  10  W.;  La 
Nana  ba5'ou. 

Astarte  smithvillensis,  Plate  53,  fig.  7. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  2,  p.  248. 

This  .species  seems  to  be  very  poorly  represented  in  the  Lignitic 
of  Louisiana.  Only  one  specimen,  an  exterior  impression  has 
thus  far  been  found.  It  is  from  La  Nana  bayou  near  Many. 
See  p.  69  of  this  report. 

Crassatella  sp. 

Casts  of  what  seem  to  be  short,  rugose  Crassatellce  have  been 
found  at  several  places,  but  they  are  too  fragmentary  for  specific 
determination. 

They  remind  one  of  C.  gabbi  from  the  Midway  of  Tennessee. 

Localties. — Marthaville  ;   La  Nana  bayou. 

Kellia  prima,  Plate  53,  fig.  11. 

Syn. — Kellia  prima  Aldrich,  Bull.  Amer.  Paleont.,  vol.  2,  p.  181, 
pi.  6,  figs.  3,  3a. 
See  also  vol.  2,  p.  202  and  250. 
We  have  already  recorded  this  species  from  Sabinetown  in  the 
Bulletins  of  American  Paleontology,  p.  202  as  given  above.     The 
specimens  were  in  the    Lea  Memorial    collection    of  the  Phila- 
delphia Academy,  and  were  collected  by  C.    W.    Johnson,  of  the 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  6  :  Lignitic  Fauna  303 

Wagner  Free  Institute  of  Science.     So  far  as  known  this  species 
is  confined  to  the  Upper  Lignitic  or  Woods  bluff  horizon. 

Cardium  tuomeyi.  Plate  53,  fig,  9,  10. 

Syn. —  C.  tuojneyi A\d.,  Geol.  Surv.  Ala.,  Bull,    i,  p.    40,  pi.  4, 
figs.  13,  13a,  1886. 

See  also  Bull.  Am.  Pal.,  vol.  2,  p.  252. 

The  specimens  we  have  in  hand  are  of  the  same  species  as 
those  of  the  Lower  Lignitic  of  Alabama.  They  often  show, 
however,  a  somewhat  coarser  costation  than  the  type  specimen 
of  tuomeyi  does  ;  but  so  do  many  specimens  from  Nanafalia,  the 
type  locality.  We  have  come  to  think  the  gap  between  toumeyi 
and  hatchetigbeense  not  so  very  wide.  C.  hatchetigbeense  is  sup- 
posed to  have  fewer  ribs  and  to  have  sharp  large  spines  on  the 
anterior  and  posterior  slope.  Many  of  these  show  this  feature 
clearly. 

Locality. — Pendleton,  Texas;  Marthaville,  La.;  La  Nana 
bayou,  near  Many,  La. 

Horizon. — Lower  Lignitic. 

Mactra  bistriata,  Plate  53,  fig.  4. 

Syn. — M.  prcstenuis  var.  bistriata  Har.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  2, 
p.  258,  pi.  19,  fig.  10,  1897. 

With  better  specimens  in  hand  it  is  safe  to  say  that  this  is 
distinct  from  J/,  prcstenuis,  Con. 

Locality. — Sabinetown,  Tex. 

Horizon. — Upper  Lignitic. 

Corbula  alabatnensis,  var. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Paleont.,  vol.  2,  p.  260. 

Here  is  the  same  small  varietal  section  of  this  species  as  noted 
in  the  above-mentioned  Bulletin  from  various  Lignitic  localities 
in  Alabama.  It  has  no  strongly  marked  characteristics  by  which 
to  differentiate  it  from  other  members  of  this  section. 

Locality. — Sabinetown,  Tex. 

l/ucina  ozarkana. 

Syn. — L.  ozarkana  Har.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  2,  p.  264,  1897. 
These    fragmentary    specimens    from     Sabinetown     seem     to 
belong   to    the   same    species    found    in    Woods    bluff   beds    at 
Ozark,  Ala. 


304  Geological   Survey   of   Louisiana  [Sect, 

Ceronia. 

We  cannot  presume  to  identify  or  name  specifically  the  frag- 
mentary specimens  in  hand.  Suffice  to  say  they  seem  to  be  quite 
common,  and  can  easily  be  told  by  the  silvery  character  of  the 
shell  matter. 

Locality. — Sabinetown  and  Pendleton,  Tex. 

Pholas  alatoideus,  Plate  53,  fig.  12. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer,  Pal,,  vol.  2,  p.  261, 

We  have  little  doubt  as  to  the  specific  identity  of  this  imperfect 
cast  with  the  Alabama  Lignitic  specimens.  It  will  be  observed, 
however,  that  in  Alabama  the  species  comes  from  the  Lower 
Iviguitic,  while  this  is  from  Sabinetown,  and  Upper  Lignitic 
horizon. 

GASTROPODA 

Pleurototna  huppertzi  var. 

Syn. — P.  huppertzi YQ.r pe7irosei  Yi2ir . ,  Acad. Nat. Sci.  Phila.,  1895, 
p.  58,  pi.  4,  fig.  10. 
P.  servatoidea  Aid.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  i,  p.  59,   pi.  5, 
fig-  5.  1895. 
The  beds  at  Smithville,  Texas,  have  a  number  of  species  with 
Lignitic  affinities.     This  is  very  evident  so  far  as  the  Pletirotoma 
are  concerned.  Th.&  servatoidea  diS,  Aldrich  has  styled  it  in  Alabama, 
is  common  to  the  Upper  and  Lower  Lignitic,  but  so  far  as  we  are 
aware,  has  not  yet  been  recorded  from  the  Lower  Claiborne.    The 
specimen  in  hand  is  a  typical  Alabama  Lignite  form. 

Locality. — Sabinetown,  Tex.     Here  in  the  Upper  Lignitic. 

Pleurotoma  silicata,  Plate  54,  fig.  i, 

Syn. — P.  silicata  Aid.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  i,  p.  60,  pi. 4,  fig.  3, 
1895.     See  also,  vol.  3,  p.  21,  pi.  2,^fig.  13,  1899. 

There  are  quite  a  number  of  specimens  of  this  species  in  our 
collection  from  Pendleton.  In  Alabama  thus  far  the  form  is 
known  only  from  Gregg's  landing.  This  then  goes  to  show,  along 
with  others,  the  close  equivalence  of  these  two  localities  on  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  Mississippi,  so  distant  from  each  other. 

Locality. — Pendleton,  Tex. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  6  :  Lignitic  Fauna 


305 


Pleurotomella  veatchi,  n.  sp.,  Plate  54,  fig.  2. 

Specific  characterization. — Size  and  form  as  figured  ;  spiral 
whorls  about  six  ;  somewhat  angular  centrally,  especially  the 
larger  ones,  crossed  by  twenty  or  more  fairly  well  marked  ribs 
with  directions  as  follows  :  commencing  just  below  a  well-marked 
suture  they  pass  downward  and  to  the  right  to  the  middle  of  the 
whorl,  where  they  are  deflected  perpendicularly  to  the  suture 
below  ;  over  each  whorl  pass  raised  spiral  lines,  often  slightly 
larger  and  farther  apart  on  the  central  part  of  the  whorl ;  body 
whorl  showing  ribs  above,  which  die  out  below  ;  spiral  stria- 
tion  over  whole  volution  ;  besides  the  humeral  angle  a  pronounced 
though  not  sharply  carinated  angle  appears  on  the  body  whorl 
about  twice  as  far  below  the  humeral  angle  as  the  latter  is  below 
the  suture  ;  mouth  parts  and  columella  Levifiisus-XxV.^. 

Localities. — Pendleton,  Texas  ;  Marthaville,  I,a.  Named  in 
honor  of  the  finder,  Mr.  A.  C.  Veatch  of  this  survey. 

Cancellaria  quercollis  var.  greggi.  Plate  54,  fig.  3. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  26,  pi.  3,  fig.  6,  1889. 

We  have  but  a  small,  fragmentary  specimen  of  this  species 
from  Pendleton,  Texas,  but  its  markings  are  so  peculiar  that  its 
identification  is  simple  and  certain. 

Buccinanops  ellipticum.  Plate  54,  figs.  4,  5. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  .Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  30,  pi.  3,  figs.  14,  15,  1899. 

The  specimens  before  us  are  small  but  seem  to  belong  to  this 
species. 

Localities. — Pendleton,  and  Sabintown,  Texas. 

Pseudoliva  vetusta  var.,  Plate  54,  figs.  6,  7. 

Syn. — Bull.  Am.  Pal.,  vol.  i,  p.  213  ;  vol.  3,  p.  31,  pi.  3,  fig  16. 

Two  varieties  of  this  species  are  present  in  the  Lignitic  of 
Louisiana.  One,  the  form  figured,  is  rather  characteristic  of  the 
Lower  Lignitic  and  Midway  ;  another  with  much  callosity  about 
the  upper  portions  of  the  volutions  is  not  uncommon  in  the  form 
of  casts. 

Localities — Pendleton,  Tex.;  Marthaville,  La.;  La  Nana  bayou. 

Volutilithes  petrosus  vars. , 
Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  33,  pi.  4,  fig.  i,  1899. 

West  of  the  Mississippi  it   seems  to   be   the  Upper  Lignitic 


3o6  Geological   Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Sabinetown  specimens  only  that  show  the  peculiar  callosity  which 
often  characterizes  the  L,ignitic  specimens  in  Alabama. 

Localities — Sabinetown  and  Pendleton,  Tex.;  La  Nana  bayou  ; 
N.  E.  of  Sodus ;  S.  2,  9  N.,  12  W.  The  last  mentioned  locality 
may  be  Midway. 

I<evifusus  indentus,  Plate  54,  fig.  8. 

Syn. — L.  iyideiihis  Har.,  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.   vol.   3,   p.   52,  pi.  7, 
fig-  I,  1899. 

This  species  is  locally  common  in  the  Lignitic  of  Louisiana 
and  is  in  fact  of  great  assistance  in  correlation.  So  far  as  known 
it  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Lower  Lignitic. 

Localities — Pendleton,  Tex.;   Marthaville. 

I<evifusus  supraplanus,  Plate  54,  fig.  9. 

Syn. — L.  supraplamis  Har.,  Bull.  Amer.   Pal.,   vol.  3,  p.  50,  pi. 
6,  fig.  I,  1899. 

The  one  specimen  from  Pendleton  is  sufficient  to  show  the 
existence  of  this  rare  species  in  the  Lower  Lignitic  west  of  the 
Mississippi. 

I/Cvifusus  pagoda,  Plate  54,  fig.  10. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  51,  pi.  6,  fig.  10,  1899. 

Represented  by  several  specimens  though  not  very  complete 
from  Pendleton,  Texas. 

I/Cvifusus  trabeatus  var? 
Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  50,  1899. 

The  form  here  referred  to  is  precisely  that  which  we  formerly 
described  from  the  Lower  Claiborne  of  Texas  under  the  name  of 
L  .trabeatoides. 

Rare  at  Pendleton  and  Sabinetown. 

Ma^^alina  plena,  Plate  54,  fig.  12. 

See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  p.  54,  1899. 

We  had  one  excellent  specimen  of  this  species  from  Pendleton, 
Tex. ;  but  it  air-slaked  and  crumbled  badly  before  a  figured  could 
be  made  of  it.  Hence  the  necessity  of  using  our  Alabama  speci- 
men for  the  purpose. 

Tritonidea  pachecoi,  n.  .sp.,  Plate  54,  fig.  11. 

Specific  characterization. — For  form  and  general  characters  see 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  6  :  L,ignitic  Fauna  307 

figure ;  size  sometimes  larger  than  indicated  by  the  figure  ; 
whorls  about  seven,  slightly  rounding,  smooth  ;  suture  distinct ; 
body  whorl  with  traces  of  spiral  striation  medially  becoming 
more  apparent  anteriorly  ;  outer  lip  crenate  at  margin  and  occa- 
sionally within  at  places  of  former  stops  in  growth  of  shell ; 
inner  lip  slightly  crenate  or  striate  in  places;  columella  hollow 
as  viewed  from  below. 

Locality — Pendleton,  Texas.  Lower  Lignitic  Eocene.  This 
maj^  be  the  species  which  is  seen  in  such  large  masses  in  frag- 
ments of  concretionary  limestone  used  in  the  construction  of 
some  portions  of  Ft.  Jessup. 

Nassa  exilis,  Plate  55,  fig.  i. 

Syn. — See   Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  57,  pi.  7,  fig.  9,  i! 
Locality. — Sabinetown  and  Pendleton,  Texas. 

Calyptraphorus  trinodiferus, 

Syn. — -See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  70,  pi.  9,  figs.  2,  2a,  i! 

The  Sabinetown  bluff  specimens  show  the  trinodate  character 
of  the  shell  finely,  likewise  the  specimens  at  Pendleton.  But 
some  specimens  from  a  well  in  N.  E.  %  Sect.  2,  9  N.,  12  W. 
Sabine  parish,  have,  so  far  as  observed,  not  shown  any  indications 
of  a  knob  upon  the  reverse  side  of  the  body  whorl.  This  locality, 
as  stated  before  may  belong  to  a  Midway  horizon. 

Cassidaria  brevidentata  var. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  67. 

We  shall  not  be  surprised  when  sufficient  material  shall  have 
been  collected  from  the  Lower  Lignitic  if  this  varietal  form 
proves  to  be  different  enough  from  the  original  "Red  bluff" 
type  to  warrant  a  new  specific  name.  Our  present  specimens 
though  numerous  are  all  too  fragmentary  to  use  as  types. 

Locality. — Pendleton,  Texas. 

Fusoficula  juvenis,  Plate  55,  fig.  2,  3. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  66,  1899. 

This  is  a  characteristic  Lignitic  Eocene  species.  It  occurs  in 
abundance  at  Woods  bluff  and  lower  localities  in  Alabama.  I 
have  already  recorded  (see  above  reference)  it  from  Sabinetown, 
Texas.     We  have  obtained  more  material  from  the  same  locality. 


3o8  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Turritella  mortoni,  Plate  55,  fig.  4. 

Syn.— See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  74,  pi.  10,   figs.   3  and  4. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  common  and  widely  distributed  species 
in  the  Lower  Eocene  of  the  east  and  southern  States. 

Many  of  the  Louisiana  specimens  are  rather  diminutive  in  size. 

LocaHties.—Vendleton,  Tex.;  well  on  S.  W.  }{,S.W.  }{,  Sect. 
18,  7  N.,  10  W.,  near  Ft.  Jessup  ;  Marthaville  ;  La  Nana  bayou 
near  Many. 

Turritella  humerosa,  Plate  55,  fig.  5. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  75,  pi.  10,  figs.  5-7,  1899. 

Also  a  widely  distributed  lower  Eocene  species  ;  but  very  dif- 
ficult to  obtain  in  perfect  form. 

Localities. — La  Nana  bayou  ;  Williams  place,  i  mi.  E.  of  Ft. 
Jessup,  La. 

Turritella  prsecincta,  Plate  55,  fig.  6. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  76,  pi.  10,  fig.  8,  1899. 

This  is  a  rare  companion  of  the  two  preceding  species  in  the 
Lower  Lignitic  beds. 

Locality. — Pendleton,  Texas. 

Natica  eminula,  Plate  55,  fig.  7. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.   88,   pi.    11,  fig.  22,    1899. 

This  is  a  very  common  Eocene  form  and  may  be  found  from 
the  Jackson  to  the  Midway  beds. 

Localities. — Pendleton  and  Sabinetown,  Texas. 

Natica  aperta,  Plate  55,  fig.  8. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer,  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.    90,  pi.    11,    fig.   27,  1899. 
This  is  a  common  and  characteristic  Lower  Lignitic  species. 
Locality. — Pendleton,  Texas. 

Natica  alabamiensis,  Plate  55,  fig.  9. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.  91,  etc. 

This  is  found  in  the  Lower  Lignitic  and  Upper  Midway  beds 
of  Alabama. 

Locality. — Pendleton,  Texas. 

Sigaretus  declivus,  Plate  55,  fig.  10. 

Syn. — See  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.,  vol.  3,  p.   93,   pi.    11,  fig.  30,  1899. 


Ill] 


Special  Report  No.  6  :  Ligxitic  Fauna 


309 


Found  in  the  various  horizons  between  the  Jackson   and  Mid- 
way in  Alabama  though  not  abundantl}". 
Locality. — Sabinetown,  Texas. 

Solarium  bellense,  Plate  55,  fig.  11. 

Syn. — 6".  bellense  Har.,   Bull.  Amer.   Pal.,  vol.    3,  p.    82,  pi.  11, 
fig.  7,  1899. 

Described   originally  from  the  Lower    lyignitic   of    Alabama. 
One  fragmentary  specimen  is  from  Pendleton,  Texas. 


Fig. 


Explanation  of  Plate  49 

Page 

Exogyra  costata  x  f  292 

Gryphisa  vesicularis  x  %  (larger  valve) 292 

Ostrea  larva 293 

Ostrea  pluniosa 293 

Lima  pelagica 294 

Neithea  qiiinquecostaia  (larger  valve) 294 

Neithea    qiiinquecostata   (operculate  valve) 294 


Fie 


Explanation  of  Plate  50 

Page 
Gryphcsa    vesicularis  x  i 292 

The  same,  interior  view 

Camptonectes  burlingtonensis  \ 294 

Cardiuin  alabamense  % 294 

Crassatella   vadosa 295 

Thetis,  sp   x  2 295 

Linearia   inetastriata  x  2 296 

Veniella,  sp 295 

Trigonia  eufaulensis , 295 


Fig. 


Fig. 


Explanation  of  Plate  51 

Page 

Legn»ien  planulatutn  x  ^ 296 

Inocerantiis    barabini  f 294 

Laxispira  liinibricalis 296 

Heteroceras,  sp.  :s.  j^ 297 

Ptychoceras  crassimt  ? 297 

Baculites  anceps 297 

Terebratidina,  sp.  :si  2}4 297 

Explanation  of  Plate  52 

Page 
I.       Ostrea  crenuliniarginata 297 

>,  4.  Ostrea   pulasketisis 298 


3IO  Gkological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Page 

Fig.  5 .  Modiola  stubbsi 298 

6.  Modiola   stubbsi 298 

Fusus  harrisi 299 

Leiostoma  ( ?)  ludoviciana 299 

Turritella  inorton  i 299 

Explanation  of  Plate  53 

Page 

Fig.   I .     Ostrea  thirscr .* 300 

2.  Modiola    alabaniensis     (Ala.     specimen,     taken     from      Bull. 

Amer .    Pal . )    i' 300 

3 .  Barbatia  cuculloides 301 

4.  Mactra  bistriata  x  | 303 

5.  Leda  aldrichiana  x  | 301 

6.  Venericardia  planicosla  x  4 302 

7.  Astarte  smxthvillensis  (Alabama  specimen,  from   Bull.  Amer. 

Paleont. ) 302 

8.  Tellina,  n.  sp x  il 

9.  10.     Cardiiim  tuomeyi,  vars  x  4 

11.  Kellia  prima  (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 302 

12.  Pholas  alatoideus  (From  Bull.  Am.  Pal.) 304 

Explanation  of  Plate  54 

Page 
Fig.   I.     Pleurototna  silicata  (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 304 

2.  Pleiirotoniella    veatchi ,  )i.  sp.  x.  ^ 305 

3.  Cancelldria  var.,  greggi  (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 305 

4.  5.   Buccinanops  ellepticum   (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 305 

6,7.  Pseiidoliva    vetusta  var 305 

8.  f.evifiistis  indentus  (From   Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 306 

9.  Levifusus  siipraplantis  (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 306 

10.  Levifusus  pagoda  (From  Bull.  Amer.-  Pal.) 306 

1 1 .  Tritonidea  pachecoi  x  2 306 

12.  Mazzalina  plena  (P'rom  Bull.  Anier.  Pal.) 306 

Explanation  of  Plate  55 

Page 

Fig.   I.     Nassa  exilis  (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.) 307 

2,  3.     Fusoficula  juvenis  (From  Bull.  Amer.  Pal.)   308 

4.  Turritella  tnortoni  "  "  '  308 

5.  Turritella   hunierosa        "  "  "  308 

6.  Turritella  priTcittcta         "  "  "  308 

7.  Natica  eminula  "  "  "  308 

8.  A'atica  aperta  "  "  "  308 

9.  Natica  alabajniensis         "  "  "  308 

10.  Sigaretus  declivus  "  "  "  308 

1 1 .  Solarium  bellense  "  "  "  309 


CEOLOGICAL   SlRVEV    OF    LOUISIANA,    REPORT,    1S99 


Plate  49 


See  expla?iation,  page  jop. 


Geological  Survey  ok  Louisiana,  Report,  1899 


Plate  50 


See  explanation,  page  jog. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1S99 


Plate  51 


6     —  ? 

See  explanation,  page  jog 


Geoi,ogical  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1899 


See  exp/auation,  page  ^09-10. 


Geological  Survey  of  Lovisiana,  Report,  1S99 


Plate  53 


See  explanation,  page  j/o. 


Gkological  Survky  of  Louisiana,  Report,  li 


Plate  54 


See  explanation,  page  310. 


Geological  S0Rvey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1S99 


Plate  55 


See  explanation,  page  310, 


special  Report  No.  7 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  MERIDIAN  LINES 

BY 

G.  D.  Harris 

CONTENTS 
Prewminary  Remarks 
The  Compass  Needi,e 
Variatio7is  and  imperfectiojis.  .312 

The  Transit,  with  and  without  Solar  Attachment 
Its  use 312     Cost 313 

Improvement  of  Compass  Surveying 

Magnetic  decliyiation  ajid  Need  of  meridian  lines 314 

its  secular  chajige 313     How  established 314 

Our  Outfit  and  Experiences 
Meridian  Lines  Established 

Mansfield 317  Harrisonburg 320 

Many 317  Shreveport 320 

Natchitoches 317  Monroe 321 

Colfax 318  Alexandria 322 

Winnfield 318  Floyd 322 

Columbia  319 

Magnetic  Declination 

Amou?it  of  "  variation  "  determined  by  one  com- 
pass 7iot  applicable  to  work  done  zvith  another .  .  322 
A  fine  field  for  magnetic  work 32  3 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  MERIDIAN  LINES 

PRELIMINARY  REMARKvS 

The  Compass  Needle 

Variations  and  imperfections. — The  propriety  of  using  a  mag- 
netic needle  for  determining  direction  in  ordinary-  land  surveying 
is  indeed  questionable.  When  we  know  that  so  called  ' '  variation 
of  the  compass  needle  "  is  changing  from  year  to  year  (secular 
variation);  when  we  remember  that  there  is  an  annual  variation, 
or  change  from  season  to  season,  and  a  diurnal  or  daily  change  ; 
when  we  observe  the  sensitiveness  of  the  needle  to  extreme  changes 
in  temperature,  its  deflection  by  local  attraction  and  magnetic 
storms,  or  its  sluggishness  from  a  worn  center  or  loss  of  magnetism  ; 
when  finally  we  know  that  no  non-reversing  needle  ever  does 
indicate  the  exact  magnetic  meridian  because  its  physical  axis  is 
never  exactly  the  same  as  its  magnetic  axis  ;  then  we  must  admit 
that  even  though  the  instrument  is  in  perfect  adjustment,  the 
chances  of  laying  off  two  coincident  lines  from  any  given  starting 
point,  at  different  intervals  of  time  with  one  and  the  same  com- 
pass are  indeed  slight.  Different  men  with  different  instruments 
at  different  times,  have  naturalh',  as  we  all  know,  come  to  very 
different  conclusions  regarding  the  location  of  many  corners  and 
boundary  lines. 

Without  going  into  details  regarding  the  troubles  thus  brought 
about,  it  is  more  to  the  point  to  make  inquiries  as  to  how  the 
present  methods  of  determining  direction  can  be  improved  upon. 

The  Transit,  With  or  Without  Solar  Attachment 

Its  use. — No  one  who  has  ever  become  familiar  with  an  engi- 
neer's or  surveyor's  transit  can  go  back  to  compass  surveying  with 
any  degree  of  satisfaction  except  in  mere  preliminary  or  recon- 
naissance work.  Again,  the  ordinary  transit  is  equipped  with  a 
needle,  so  that  whatever  merit  may  be  in  such  a  mechanism,  is 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  7  :    Meridian  Lines  313 

possessed  by  the  transit  as  well  as  the  plain  compass.  But  the 
possession  by  a  transit  of  a  horizontal  limb  provided  with  verniers 
for  laying  off  or  reading  angles  directly  to  within  a  minute  or  less 
of  an  arc,  gives  it  a  superiority  over  the  plain  compass  that  no 
surveyor  can  fail  to  acknowledge  at  once. 

As  time  goes  on  and  the  price  of  land  increases,  there  in  a  ten- 
dency to  lay  less  and  less  emphasis  on  the  actual  direction  the 
boundary  lines  of  land  bear  to  true  north  and  south  or  east  and 
west  lines.  Descriptions  are  based  more  and  more  upon  cultural 
features  the  more  such  features  increase.  Points  are  fixed  by 
their  distances  from  other  fixed  points,  the  angle  that  two  inter- 
secting lines  make  is  measured  with  the  transit,  and  such  angles 
are  recorded,  while  the  true  bearing  of  either  line  with  the 
meridian  is  neither  sought  nor  given. 

If,  however,  there  is  need  of  knowing  accurately  (sa}'  to  i  '  of 
arc)  the  bearing  of  a  line,  it  can  be  determined  in  the  day-time 
by  the  same  transit  instrument  provided  it  possesses  a  vertical 
circle  with  proper  graduations  and  verniers.  This  is  done  by  alt- 
azimuth observations  on  the  sun.  The  solar  attachment  greatly 
lessens  the  amount  of  calculating  involved,  though  it  means 
more  adjustments  to  care  for. 

Cost. — The  ordinary  compass  can  be  bought  for  from  $25  to  $50. 
A  good  transit  costs  at  least  $200  ;  it  cannot  be  carried  in  sad- 
dle-bags, nor  can  a  limb  or  rail  splinter  be  used  as  a  temporary 
yet  admittedly  efficient  support.  Obviously,  then,  there  is  here 
a  question  of  more  money,  time,  care  and  attention  at  stake, 
points  not  readily  and  willingly  overlooked  by  employer  or 
surveyor. 

Yet,  if  the  parish  owned  the  instrument,  and  this  it  could  well 
afford  to  do,  and  the  surveyors  were  selected  by  civil  service 
examination  and  given  a  small  salar}^  in  addition  to  their  fees  for 
each  piece  of  work,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  long  run 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars  would  be  saved  and  many 
life- long  troubles  averted. 

Improvement  of  Compass  Surveying 

Magnetic  declination  and  secular  cha7ige . — Every  surveyor  knows 
that  to  follow  certain  lines  established  by  one   survej'or,  say  in 


314  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

1820,  he  must  run  on  one  variation,  and  to  follow  another  in  the 
same  region  but  established  by  a  different  surveyor  with  a  dif- 
ferent compass  at  a  different  time  he  must  run  on  a  different  var- 
iation. In  other  words,  putting  aside  occasional  outright  poor 
work,  the  lack  of  a  definite  knowledge  of  magnetic  declination 
and  its  secular  variation  on  the  part  of  the  previous  surveyors 
has  often  been  the  source  of  a  vast  amount  of  trouble,  mental  and 
financial.  Unfortunately,  even  to-day,  the  surveyor  with  an 
ordinary  compass  has  no  readj^  means  of  determining  the  amount 
of  this  variation  ;  for  to  determine  the  number  of  degrees  and 
minutes  that  the  axis  of  his  needle  makes  with  a  true  merid- 
ian line  means  that  the  latter  is  already  established  or  known. 
But  such  a  known  line  does  not  exist  in  his  parish,  nor  has  he 
the  means  of  establishing  one. 

Need  of  meridiaji  lines. — The  above  statements  are  sufficient  to 
show  that  if  compass  surveying  be  continued,  it  is  quite  time 
that  some  systematic  records  be  kept  of  what  each  surveyor 
means  by  "  due  north  "  or  any  other  direction  he  gives,  basing 
his  statement  on  the  direction  assumed  by  his  undamped  com- 
pass needle. 

A  well  kept  needle  will  usually  settle  twice  within  5'  of  the 
same  place.  With  proper  care,  it  can  be  read  to  5'  of  arc. 
Poor  needles  may  mislead  to  the  extent  of  30'  or  more.  A  line 
then  that  is  within  i'  of  the  true  meridian  of  the  place  is 
sufficiently  accurate  for  all  compass  work.  Any  higher  degree 
of  refinement,  however  desirable  and  satisfactorj-  on  general 
principles,   is  wholly   unappreciated  in  compass  surveying. 

How  established. — But  as  before  stated,  such  a  line  can  be 
established  by  day  whenever  the  sun  is  shining  :  or  b}'  night 
whenever  the  circumpolar  stars  are  visible,  to  a  still  greater 
degree  of  accuracy'  by  a  rather  unpretentious  engineer's  transit. 

Instructions  for  this  operation  have  been  so  frequently  pub- 
lished in  works  and  reports  relating  to  surveying  and  surveys 
that  it  seems  quite  unnecessary  to  repeat  them  here.  However 
we  cannot  refrain  from  suggesting  that  in  place  of  the  usual 
paragraph  of  instruction  in  night  work  which  reads  somewhat 
as  follow:  "Let  an  assistant  place  a  light  corresponding  in 
brightness  to  that  of    the  stars   at  a   point  seemingly   exactly 


Ill] 


Special  Report  No.  7  :    Meridian  Lines 


315 


beneath  Polaris  at  its  elongation,  or  let  him  hold  the  fine  point 
ot  an  illuminated  pencil  on  a  wooden  plug  or  board  fixed  to  the 
ground;"  we  would  suggest  placing  an  illuminating  scale  (see 
Fig.  7)  at  600  to  1000  feet  from  the  transit  some  little  time 
before  the  elongation  and  then  watch  the  star  move  in  azimuth 
from  I,  2,  to  say  8  and  return. 

A  fairly-  good  scale  can  be  improvised  as  follows  :  Take  a  new 
piece  of  tin  about  6x14  inches  and  cut  slits  at  intervals  of  from 
.05  to  .10  ft.  according  to  the  power  of  the  telescope  and  the 
distance  available. 


Fig.  7. — Illuminated  scale  for  night  work. 


Fractional  parts  of  interspaces  can  be  estimated  to  the  nearest 
y^^  z.  (?.,  o.oi  ft.,  if  the  instrument  has  no  micrometer  attach- 
ment. 

When  the  scale  is  placed  at  such  a  distance  as  to  cause  one 
space  to  represent  about  20",  it  follows  that  readings  are  made 
to  about  2"  of  arc.  If  when  the  various  readings  have  all  been 
reduced  to  the  elongation  and  there  is  no  serious  discordance 
shown,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  the  average  is  a  close  approxi- 
tion  to  the  true  elongation. 

Other  circumpolar  stars  giving  an  opposite  elongation  the 
same  night  can  also  be  observed  with  the  scale  reversed.  The 
true  elongation  of  eacl^  can  be  computed  from  the  several  obser- 
vations on  the  same,  and  all  can  be  used  in  the  final  location  of 
the  meridian  line. 

The  position  of  the  scale  on  the  subjacent  board  should  be 
accurately  marked,  and  in  the  morning  a   fine,  straight  steel  pin 


3i6  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

can  be  placed  where  the  mean  of  the  elongation  readings  was  on 

the  previous  night  and  the  azimuth  of  the  stars  at  elongation 

laid  off  in  order  to  establish  the  true  north  and  south  line.     The 

position   for    Polaris    and    several    other    circumpolar    stars    is 

conveniently  given  for  each  day   of  the  year  in    the  American 

Ephemeris  and  Nautical  Almanac.     The  latitude  of  the  place  can 

be  determined  with  sufficient  accuracy  by  an  inspection  of  any 

good  state  map.     Then 

^,  Sin. Polar  Distance 

Sm.  Az.  at  Elong.=,::^ — -. ^.      , 

Cosine  Latitude. 

The  surveyor  will  find  it  greatly  to  his  advantage  to  establish 
his  meridian  line  in  the  day-time  before  his  night  work  by  equal 
altitudes,  or  ordinary  alt-azimuth  observations  on  the  sun  to 
within  i'  of  arc.  He  will  thus  be  able  to  have  the  monuments 
placed,  but  not  cemented  in,  and  will  also  have  his  scale  placed 
already  for  illumination  at  night.  The  final  lining  up  of  the 
monuments  is  but  a  short  task  for  the  next  morning.  Where 
monuments  are  small  and  of  local  construction,  there  should 
always  be  four  placed  in  line  so  that  any  disturbance  in  one  can 
be  detected  by  the  rest. 

Our  Outfit  and  Experiences 

We  have  only  to  add  that  our  outfit  for  the  past  year  consisted 
of  a  good  Heller  &  Brightly  engineer's  transit,  of  high  magni- 
fying power,  but  with  verniers  reading  directly  to  minutes  only. 
Great  interest  seemed  everywhere  to  be  manifest  in  the  work 
and  we  are  glad  to  say  that  during  the  coming  year  this  work 
will  be  greatly  facilitated  by  the  use  of  an  instrument  of  a  much 
superior  order  of  construction  and  refinement. 

With  our  present  small  staff,  no  considerable  amount  of  time 
can  be  spent  on  work  of  this  nature.  It  is  for  this  reason  we 
have  suggested  and  urged  co-operation  with  the  U.  S.  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey.     See  Introduction. 

As  will  be  seen  below,  we  have  been  favored  by  Maj.  Willard 
with  careful  descriptions  of  many  of  the  Reference  and  Azimuth 
Points  of  several  of  the  river  surveys. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  7  :    Meridian  Lines  317 

Meridian  Lines  Established 

Mansfield 

General  location. — Across  (midway)  west  yard  of  Mansfield 
Female  College  grounds  and  %  mile  to  south,  in  Mrs.  Williams' 
field. 

Marks  or  monuments. — Three  Lignitic,  calcareous,  concretion- 
ary boulders.     N,  at  northern  side  of  the  college  grounds,  N',  at 
the  south  side,  and  S,  1800  feet  south  of  N,  in  Mrs.  Williams'  ' 
lot. 

Many 

Geyieral  location. — In  Mr.  E.  C.  Dillon's  lot  west  of  residence. 
For  detailed  information  call  on  either  Mr.  Dillon,  or  Dan'l 
Vandegaer,  Esq.,  parish  surveyor. 

Marks — Calcareous,  Lignitic  boulders.  Only  three  in  number. 
S,  near  a  pine  tree  in  Dillon's  yard,  west  of  house  ;  S',  by  the 
fence  just  north  of  stream,  perhaps  300  ft.  north  of  S  ;  N,  in  edge 
of  field,  897  ft.  north  of  S. 

Natchitoches 

General  locatio7i. — Through  Normal  school  grounds  west  of 
the  buildings  about  150  feet. 

Marks. — Calcareous  Claiborne  boulders ;  exact  meridian 
marked  by  drilled  holes  filled  with  lead  plugs.  The  northern 
most,  N,  is  within  perhaps  five  feet  of  the  northern  line  fence  ; 
N'  is  south  of  N  about  30  feet,  S'  is  just  south  of  the  walk  or 
road  leading  westward  to  the  woods  and  S  is  within  3  feet  of  the 
southern  line  fence  of  the  school  grounds. 

Colfax 

General  location. — Court  house  yard,  east  of  Court  house. 
See  Mr.  R.  E.  Mc  Knight,  Colfax,  La. 

Marks. — Grand  Gulf  sandstone  boulders ;  all  four  within 
court  yard  limits.  Definite  marks  consist  of  sunken  lead  plugs 
in  sandstone.  N  and  S  are  very  close  to  north  and  south  limits 
of  the  yard. 


3i8  Geological  Survey  of    i^ouisiana  [Sect. 

Colfax  Base  Line  Established  by  U.  S.  Engineers  * 

"  Colfax  base  line,  tertiary  triangulation  of  Red  river,  was  in 
Grant  Parish,  La.,  near  Colfax,  but  was  marked  permanently- 
only  at  one  end ;  the  triangulation  stations  adjacent  to  south 
base  at  Colfax  were  permanently  marked. 

"  South  base  is  marked  by  the  point  of  a  nail  set  in  cement 
within  the  end  of  a  vitrified  sewer  pipe.  The  pipe  is  12  centi- 
meters in  diameter  and  75  centimeters  long.  The  top  of  the 
pipe  projects  about  i  decimeter  above  ground  and  stands  in  a 
meadow  just  above  Colfax.  It  is  about  100  meters  northwest  of 
the  row  of  cabins  on  C.  H.  Teal's  place  and  about  no  meters 
northeast  of  the  fence  enclosing  a  small  lot. 

"  Elevation,  35.92  meters,  [Cairo  Datum.] 

"  Latitude,  31°  29'  50". 

"Triangulation  stations  are  marked  in  a  manner  similar  to 
South  base. 

"Azimuth, vSouth  base  to  Sta.  260,77°  07'.   Distance  801  meters. 
South  base  to  Sta.  260a,  16°  55'.     Distance    1093.6 

meters. 
South  base  to  Sta.  261,  333°  40'.     Distance    1 160.6 
meters." 

WlXN  FIELD 

General  location. — Court  house  yard,  east  of  Court  house. 

Marks. — Four  limestone  boulders  from  the  "  Marble  Quarry." 
Exact  mark  consist  of  lead  plugs,  as  elsewhere.  N.  and  S.  are 
near  the  north  and  south  limits  of  the  court  yard.  In  case  of 
doubt  see  Messrs.  Dunn,  Bailey,  Wallace  or  any  other  citizen. 

Columbia 

General  location. — Diagonally  across  Court  house  yard  passing 
but  a  few  feet  west  of  the  corner  of  the  same. 

Marks. — Calcareous  boulders.  All  four  within  the  court  yard 
limits.  Line  defined  b}^  sunken  plugs.  In  case  of  doubt  as  to 
location  drop  a  card  to  A.  J.  Daniel,  Parish  Surveyor,  Kelly,  La. 


*  The  information  here  and  elsewhere  credited  to  the  U.  S.  Engineers  was 
very  kindly  furnished  by  Maj.  J.  H.  Willard,  Vicksburg,  Mi.ss, 


Ill]  SpeciaIv  Report  No.  7  :    Meridian  Lines  319 

Line,  Monuments,  Etc.,  U.  S.  Engineers  {Ouachita  River  Survey). 

'' ^ Permanent  7'eference  line,  Cohunbia,  Ouachita  River  survey,  is 
in  Franklin  parish,  I,a.,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  opposite 
the  town  of  Columbia.  Both  ends  of  the  line  are  marked  alike 
by  a  4  centimeter  gas  pipe  about  1.6  meters  long,  with  a  cap  on 
top,  and  a  circular  flange  attached  near  the  lower  end  by  lock 
nuts.  The  pipe  is  bedded  in  cement  and  projects  above  ground 
about  I  decimeter. 

'  'Permanent  reference  point  is  about  2.4  kilometers  below  Colum- 
bia, near  the  bank  of  Bridger  Bayou.  It  is  about  7  meters  north 
of  the  front  fence  of  the  Ivy  Davis  plantation.  Witnessed  by 
three  trees  with  triangular  blazes,  as  follows  : 

"Double  China  berry,  0.4  meter  in  diameter, 29  meters, 77°  00'. 

China-berry  0.4  meter  in  diameter,  19  meters,  131°  45'. 

China-berry  0.3  meter  in  diameter,  16  meters,  143°  55'. 

Northeast  corner  of  a  cabin,  24.5  meters,  126°  45'. 

Elevation  of  cap,  27.01  meters,"  [Cairo  Datum.] 

''^Permanent  azimuth  point  \s  on  the  main  top  bank  of  the  river 
opposite  Columbia,  near  where  the  road  from  the  ferry  comes  out 
of  the  woods,  and  joins  the  main  road.  It  is  north  of  the  plan- 
tation fence  and  aboiit  7.5  meters  from  the  main  road.  It  is 
about  30  meters  east  of  a  cabin  and  about  260  meters  west  of  St. 
Peter's  church.  Witness  trees  blazed  with  triangular  blazes  as 
follows : 

"  Sweet  Gum,  0.5  meter  diameter,  19.5  meters,  356°  45'. 

lyocust,  0.3  meter  diameter,  6.8  meters,  310°  00'. 

Locust,  0.3  meter  diameter,  6.4  meters,  109°  05'. 

S.  W.  Corner  St.  Peter's  Church,  291°  29'. 

Azimuth,  P.  R.  P.— P.  A.  P.,  94?  49'." 

Harrisonburg 

General  location. — Main  line  on  Mr.  E.  D.  Spann's  property 
passing  just  east  of  his  house. 

Marks. — Grand  Gulf  sandstone  boulders,  with  lead  plugs. 
N',  in  front  of  Mr.  Spann's  house,  5  feet  south  of  the  north  yard 
fence  ;  N'  by  fence  at  N.  E-  corner  of  house  ;  S  and  S'  are  near 
the  edge  of  the  field  on  either  side  of  a  little  branch,  about  360 
to  380  feet  south  of  N'.     Two  boulders  in  the  school  house  j^ard 


320  Geological   Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

one  by  the  fence  E.  of  the  school  house  yard,  one  by  the  fence 
south  of  the  same  building  mark  an  east  and  west  line.  The 
westerly  side  of  the  new  brick  jail  has  a  bearing  of  N.  14°  32.7'E. 


Line  and  Monuments  ±Lstablished  by  U.  S.  Engineers  Near  Harrisonburg 

^'  Permanent  reference  line,  Bushley,  Ouachita  River  survey,  is 
in  Catahoula  parish,  La.,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  about 
two  kilometers  below  the  town  of  Harrisonburg.  The  line  is 
marked  by  a  gas  pipe  in  a  manner  similar  to  P.  R.  L.,  Columbia. 

Permayient  reference  point  is  about  200  meters  south  of  the 
mouth  of  Bushley  bayou,  at  edge  of  wood-line,  and  about  325 
meters  back  from  right  bank  of  river.  Witness  trees  blazed  with 
triangular  blazes,  as  follows  : 

Maple,  0.4  meter  diameter,  18  meters,  320°  30'. 

Pecan,  0.3  meter  diameter,  21  meters,  14°  00'. 

Cypress,  i.o  meter  diameter,  6  meters,  265°  45'. 

Elevation,  24.20  meters,  [Cairo  Datum.] 

''Permaftent  azimuth  ^(7m/is  about  midway  of  old  Scott  planta- 
tion, on  large  mound  (first  near  river  above  Bushley  bayou), 
about  140  meters  back  from  right  bank  of  river.  Witness  trees, 
blazed  with  triangular  blazes,  as  follows  : 

Honey  Locust,  0.2  meter  diameter,  8  meters,  340°  45'. 

Sweet  Gum,  0.2  meter  diameter,  13  meters,  110°  20'. 

3weet  Gum,  0.4  meter  diameter,  19  meters,  240°  05'. 

Azimuth,  P.  R.P.  to  P.  A.  P.,  155°  43'." 

Other  Localities  Where  Azimuth  Lines  are  Established  by  the  U.  S. 

Engineers 

Shreveport  base  line,  tertiary  triangulations  of  Red   river,  is  in 

Bossier  parish,  La.,  on  the  left  bank  of  Red  river,   opposite  the 

town  of  Shreveport.     Both  ends  of  the   base  are   marked  alike 

with   an    underground    stone    slab   and  iron  pipe  rising   above 

ground.     The  underground  mark  is  a  piece  of  limestone  46  cen- 

u.s.       . 
timeters  square,  and   15   centimeters  thick,   marked     o     with  a 

spherical  headed  copper  bolt   leaded   in  the  center  of  the  upper 
face.     The  pipe  is  cast  iron,  12  centimeters  in  diameter,  and  1.2 


in]  Special  Report  No.  7  :    Meridian  Lines  321 

meters  long  and  stands  on  top  of  the  stone.  The  pipe  is  covered 
by  a  cap  which  is  fastened  on  by  a  bolt  and  nut.  There  is  a 
small  boss  on  top  of  the  cap,  with  a  hole  in  the  center. 

Northwest  base  is  now  buried  under  the  front  slope  of  the  levee, 
about  20  meters  from  where  the  levee  crosses  the  embankment  of 
the  V.  S.  &  P.  Ry.,  about  300  meters  from  the  northeast  end  of 
the  bridge  across  Red  river.  A  wooden  post  stands  on  top  of 
the  pipe,  and  projects  above  the  surface  to  mark  the  location. 

Southeast  base  is  on  the  field  side  of  a  fence  on  the  north  side 
of  a  lane  running  down  the  river  near  the  left  bank,  and  it  is 
about  200  meters  east  of  the  turn  in  the  lane  and  150  meters 
west  of  the  house  of  C.  M.  Dougherty. 

Length  of  base,  704.34  meters. 

Azimuth,  N.  W.  B.-S.  E.  B.  296°  45'. 

Latitude  of  N.  W.  B.,  32°  31'  38". 

Elevation  of  bolt  in  stone  marking  N.  W.  B.,  58.37  meters. 

Elevation  top  of  cap  N.  W.  B.,  59.61  meters,  [Cairo  Datum.] 

Elevation  top  of  capS.  E.  B.,  59.83  meters,  [Cairo  Datum.] 

^ ' Permanent refereyice  line,  Monroe,\s  in  ouachita  Parish, La.,  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  river  and  lies  along  De  Siard  street  in  the 
town  of  Monroe.  Both  ends  are  marked  alike  by  a  piece  of  "  T  " 
rail  set  in  the  ground  with  the  top  buried  about  0.03  meter  below 
the  surface.  The  head  of  the  rail  has  a  cross  on  it,  marking  the 
point. 

' '  Permanent  reference  point  is  near  the  west  end  of  De  Siard 
street,  and  about  28  meters  from  the  river  bank.  It  is  on  line 
between  a  cross  cut  on  Merchants'  &  Farmers'  Bank  and  one  cut 
on  the  Block  building.  It  is  3.84  meters  from  the  first  and  8.7 
meters  from  the  last.  The  cross  on  the  bank  building  is  9.36 
meters  from  the  angle  in  the  wall  beside  the  door ;  that  on  the 
Block  building  is  14.32  meters  from  the  front  line  on  Grand  street. 

Elevation,  30.83  meters,"  [Cairo  Datum,] 

"  Per^nanent  azimuth  point  is  5.6  meters  from  the  iron  fence 
around  the  Monroe  cemetery  and  30.5  meters  from  the  corner 
at  the  gate.     Witnessed  as  follows  : 

Spire  (Col'd)  Methodist  church,  225°  01'. 

Spire  (Col'd)  First  Baptist  church,  121°  56'. 

Index  finger  on  monument  to  Margaret  J.  Henderson,  9°   32'. 


322  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Azimuth,  P.  R.  P.  to  P.  A.  P.  232°  52' 47". 

Alexandria  base  line,  tertiary  triangulation  of  Red  river,  is  in 
Rapides  Parish,  La.,  on  the  right  bank  of  Red  river  and  behind 
the  town  of  Alexandria.  Both  ends  of  the  base  are  marked  alike 
with  stone  and  pipe  similar  to  the  Shreveport  base  line. 

"  Northeast  base  is  in  a  meadow  about  50  meters  southeast  of  a 
barn. 

' '  Southwest  base  is  in  open  field  on  a  low  levee  about  50  meters 
east  of  fence. 

Length  of  Base,  955.676  meters. 

Azimuth,  N.  E.  B.,  to  S.  W.  B.,  81°  48'. 

Latitude,  N.  E.  B.,  31°  17'  47". 

Elevation  top  of  cap  N.  E.  B.,  30.21  meters,  [Cairo  Datum.] 

Elevation  top  of  cap  S.  W.  B.,  31.58  meters,  [Cairo  Datum.] 

''Permanent  reference  line,  Floyd,  Bayou  Macon  survey,  is  in 
West  Carroll  Parish,  La.,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Bayou  in  and 
below  the  town  of  Flo3^d. 

"  Permanent  reference  point  \s  marked  by  a  4  centimeter  gas  pipe 
with  a  sleeve  on  the  upper  end,  driven  in  the  ground  about  400 
meters  below  Floyd  on  Mrs.  Emma  White's  place.  It  is  about 
150  meters  west  of  bayou  bank,  about  10  meters  west  of  edge  of 
hills,  about  200  meters  southeast  of  dwelling,  44  meters  south  of 
cabin  and  27  meters  north  of  fence. 

''Permanent  azimuth  poiiit  is  the  cupola  of  the  Court  House  in 
Floyd. 

Azimuth,  P.  R.  P.  to  P.  A.  P.,  161°  46'. 

MAGNETIC  DECLINATION 

Amount  of  ' '  variation  ' '  determined  by  one  compass  not  applicable 
to  work  do?ie  with  another. — There  are  in  all  compasses  and  tran- 
sits strong  probabilities  of  a  certain  error  in  their  readings  of  mag- 
netic bearings  owing  to  the  fact  ist,  that  the  line  of  sights  is  not 
exactly  in  line  with  the  zero  marks  on  the  compass  box  and  2d, 
that  the  magnetic  axis  of  the  needle  does  not  exactly  co-incide 
with  its  physical  axis. 

Thoug^i  we  made  a  number  of  readings  at  various  parish  seats 
and  elsewhere  and  though  we  took  the  precaution  to  determine 
the  amount  of  index  error  of  the  transit  used,  yet  we  feel    that 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  7  :    Meridian  Lines  323 

such  readings  are  scarcely  worthy  of  publication,  and  for  the 
following  reasons  :  The  results  though  correct  would  not  be 
directly  serviceable  to  local  surveyors  using  their  own  instru- 
ments, and,  to  be  of  service  in  purely  scientific  work,  the  amount 
of  declination  should  be  determined  by  a  magnetometer  specially 
constructed  for  such  work.  And  again,  the  dip  and  intensity  or 
total  magnetic  force  should  be  determined  in  order  to  advance 
the  cause  of  the  science  of  terrestial  magnetism. 

A  fine  field  for  niag?ietic  work. — The  complicated  geologic 
structure  of  Louisiana  is  just  beginning  to  be  realized.  Gener- 
alities based  on  trans-Mississippi  investigations,  and  smooth, 
straight  lines  separating  the  different  series  and  stages  will  soon 
be  relegated  to  the  past.  It  is  mainly  through  invertebrate  pale- 
ontology that  the  relationships  of  the  various  formations  repres- 
ented in  the  State  are  and  have  been  determined.  Yet  if  we 
mistake  not,  paleobotany  will  soon  be  able  to  lend  a  hand  in  this 
work.  Possibly  too  magnetic  investigations  may  throw  some 
light  on  stratigraphy.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the 
smooth  agonic  lines  heretofore  drawn  through  Louisiana  will  be 
crumpled  and  curved  in  a  marked  fashion  when  they  have  been 
platted  from  a  large  number  of  field  observations. 

Witness  :  At  Many  decl.  about  7°  ;  Natchitoches,  6°  40'  ;  St. 
Maurice,  6°  35'  ;  Couley,  6°  40'  ;  Winnfield,  6°  45°  ;  Columbia, 
6°  10'.     January  and  February,  1899. 

Have  the  results  of  orographic  movements  so  manifest  about 
Winnfield  anything  to  do  with  the  irregular  declination  there 
shown  ? 

In  Louisiana,  as  well  as  other  States  laid  out  in  rectangular 
townships,  sections,  etc.,  the  question  of  latitude,  so  essential  in 
rapid  and  accurate  magnetic  survey  work  is  often  quickly  deter- 
mined with  sufficient  accuracy  by  asking  any  resident  what  sec- 
tion he  is  in,  or  by  inspecting  his  deeds  or  tax  receipts,  and 
having  him  point  out  the  locations  of  the  various  "quarter 
quarters"  called  for.  Yet  there  are  places  occasionally  where 
there  are  no  inhabitants  for  15  or  20  miles  along  the  main  roads. 


324  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

Here  the  road  maps  mentioned  in  our  next  article  would  serve 
an  excellent  purpose,  enabling  one  to  locate  himself  at  any  time 
with  accuracy. 

A  magnetic  survey  of  a  state  should  include  at  least  one 
observation  in  every  township.  The  greater  the  facility  with 
which  trustworthy  observations  can  be  made,  so  much  the  less 
expensive  and  more  accurate  will  be  the  results. 


special  Report  No.  8. 

A  FEW  NOTES  ON  ROAD  MAKING 

BY 

G.  D.  Harris 


CONTENTS 
Literature 

Office  of  road  inquiry 326     Practical  instruction 326 

Location  of  Roads 

No  surveys  yet  made 327     Monuments 327 

Other  objects  of  road  survey  327 

Road  Material,  328 

Roads  and  Road  Machinery,  328 


A    FEW  NOTES   ON   ROAD   xMAKING 

Literature 

Office  of  road  mqiiiry. — Fortunately  for  those  interested  in  the 
construction  of  good  roads,  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  has  instituted  an  "  Office  of  Road  Inquiry" 
under  the  able  direction  of  Gen'l  R03"  Stone. 

This  office  has  collected  a  large  amount  of  valuable  information 
and  published  it  as  bulletins  and  circulars,  and  has  distributed 
copies  of  the  same,  free  to  those  interested  in  the  subject. 

The  titles  alone  are  sufficient  to  show   the  scope  and   impor- 
tance of  this  "  inquiry."     Note  the  following  : 
Bulletin  No.  i. — State  laws    relating    to    the   management  of 

roads,  enacted   1888-1893. 
Bulletin    No.    18. — (Supplement.)       State    laws    relating  to  the 

management  of  roads,  enacted  1 894-1 895. 
Bulletin  No.  ly — Historical  and  technical  papers  on  road  build- 
ing in  the  United  States. 
Bulletin  No.  12. — Wide  tires.     Laws  of  certain  States  relating  to 

their  use.  and  other  pertinent  information. 
Bidletin  No.  p. — State  aid  to  road  building  in  New  Jersey. 
Bulletin  No.  16. — Notes  on  the  employment  of  convicts  in  con- 
nection with  road  building. 

It  seems  entirely  unnecessary  here  to  give  even  an  abstract  of 
these  and  other  important  papers  since  they  are  so  readily 
obtained,  by  addressing  the  Office  of  Road  Inquiry  at  Washington. 
Practical  instncdion . — The  easiest,  quickest  and  most  satisfac- 
tory way  of  learning  the  art  of  good  road  making  is  to  watch 
those  who  understand  and  are  actually  engaged  in  making  roads. 
It  was  hoped  and  even  announced  that  Mr.  Harrison  of  the 
Washington  bureau  would  oversee  the  construction  of  a  model 
road  from  the  North  Louisiana  Experiment  Station  to  Calhoun 
Station  soon  after  the  meeting  of  the  Agricultural  Society  at 
Shreveport.  Circumstances  were  such,  however,  that  Mr.  Har- 
rison could  not  then  leave  Washington  to  take  charge  of  the 
work  and  the  matter  was  postponed. 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  8  :    Road  Making  327 

Location  of  Roads 

No  surveys  yet  made. — The  vast  majority  of  Louisiana  roads 
seems  never  to  have  been  properly  located.  Thej^  represent 
enlarged  trails.  The)^  are,  within  certain  broad  limits,  wherever 
each  season  the  traveling  public  sees  fit  to  go.  Observe  the 
broad  band  of  land  on  either  side  of  most  any  old  or  well  recog- 
nized road  and  count  the  different  road  beds  of  tens  or  scores  of 
years  ago  now  recognizable  as  narrow  long  ditches  and  frequently 
overgrown  bj-  forest  trees.  Look  again  at  the  several  lines  of 
log  roads  ("causeways")  that  can  be  seen  running  along  paral- 
lel to  each  other  across  marshy  stretches. 

Is  there  any  real  incentive  to  do  thorough  and  lasting  work 
on  a  stretch  of  road  that  may  soon  be  paralleled  by  a  new  one, 
simply  because  the  old  one  somewhere  had  one  impassable  spot  ? 

Right  here  we  believe  is  the  place  to  begin.  We  have  urged 
each  parish  survej'or  and  all  others  who  manifest  an  interest  in 
the  subject  to  see  at  once  that  at  least  the  "first  class  "  roads  are 
located.  This  should  be  done  by  giving  the  distance  from  the 
nearest  section  corner  at  which  the  road  enters  each  section  and 
the  traverse  through  the  section.  This  information  would,  of 
course,  be  recorded  at  the  parish  seat. 

Momcments. — Stone  or  iron  posts  could  well  be  used  at  the 
road-sides  to  indicate  the  crossing  of  section  lines,  and  certainly 
permanent  monuments  should  be  carefully  located  on  either  side 
of  the  road  at  each  angle. 

Other  objects  of  a  road  survey. — I  believe  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  a  road  survey  can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  It 
would  establish  a  network  of  known  points  and  distances  through- 
out each  parish  that  would  be  a  most  welcome  guide  to  all 
travelers,  be  they  geologists,  botanists,  timber  men,  commercial 
travelers,  pleasure  seekers,  produce  shippers  or  home  seekers. 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  a  geological  survey  could  be 
prosecuted  with  double  the  despatch  and  double  the  accuracy  if 
the  roads  were  only  located  and  mapped.  Other  public  and 
private  works  would  be  likewise  benefited  by  the  mere  location 
of  roads.  Add  to  this,  the  increased  facilities  of  a  road  bed  well 
made  and  well  maintained,  and  the  annual  benefit,  direct  to  the 


328  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

traveling   public,    indirect,  though   far  greater  to  the   resident 
would  be  almost  beyond  calculation. 

We  have  already  noted  the  fact  that  as  time  goes  on  cultural 
features  are  used  more  and  more  for  reference  points  and  lines  in 
the  description  of  real  estate.  Here  then  is  another  reason  why 
roads  should  be  well  located.  For  the  future  will  see  many  of 
these  very  roads  used  as  boundary  lines  between  subdivided 
estates. 

Road  Materials 

The  common  country  roads  through  Louisiana  will  naturally 
be  for  some  time  to  come  "dirt  roads."  There  are  however, 
favored  localities  where  shell  and  gravel  can  be  freely  used  for 
ballast.  In  section  II  of  this  report  under  "Lafayette"  (pp.ioo- 
104)  numerous  localites  are  given  where  quartz  pebbles  occur. 
In  some  few  cases  they  are  sufficiently  abundant  to  be  easily 
obtained  in  quantity,  and  will  doubtless  be  shipped  to  a  consider- 
able distance  for  road- making  in  the  near  future. 

So  far  as  dirt  roads  are  concerned  their  construction  and  main- 
tenance has  been  greatly  simplified  of  late  by  the  introduction  of 
road  machinery,  and  we  close  with  the  following  paragraphs  from 
circular  No.  31  of  the  Office  of  Road  Inquiry.  If  they  have 
already  been  read,  they  certainly  will  bear  reading  again. 

Roads  and  Road  Machinery 

The  first  thing  to  be  observed  in  building  conntry  roads  is  to  afford  pro- 
tection against  water.  A  dirt  or  gravel  road  properly  built  and  maintained 
can  be  made  to  shed  water  like  a  roof,  and  if  the  use  of  narrow  tires  and  the 
wearing  of  ruts  could  be  prevented,  our  country  roads  might  be  excellent. 
Water  always  runs  down  hill,  and  this  should  betaken  advantage  of  in  road 
building.  If  the  road  be  properly  crowned,  that  is,  if  its  middle  be  properly- 
raised  above  the  sides,  the  rain  and  melted  snow  will  naturally  run  off  into 
the  ditches.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  middle  be  worn  down  by  travel,  the 
water  collecting  there  will  soon  form  a  puddle,  and  ruin  the  road.  In  the 
same  way,  ruts  formed  by  narrow  tires  afford  a  trough  for  the  collection  of 
water,  and  contribute  to  its  destruction. 

Labor  as  they  might,  American  farmers  have  long  been  unable  to  build 
their  roads  so  as  to  shed  water.  But  the  solution  has  been  found  in  the  road 
grader.  The  American  farmer  is  quick  to  realize  the  value  of  machinery, 
and  the  rapid  growth  in  the  use  of  the  reaper,  the  binder,  the  separator,  is 
ail  eloquent  tribute  to  the  practical  genius  of  American  agriculture.     The 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  8  :    Road  Making 


329 


growth  of  the  use  of  road  graders  has  been  wonderful  during  the  last  few 
years,  and  indicates  that  the  farmer  has  discovered  a  practical  solution  of 
the  problem  how  to  build  his  local  dirt  roads. 

The  peculiar  feature  of  a  road  grader  is  that  it  cuts  away  the  dirt  at  the 
side  of  the  road,  and  draws  it  up  into  the  middle,  thus  producing  a  ditch  at 
each  side  and  a  slope  in  each  direction  from  the  center.  At  the  same  time 
it  will  cut  awa)^  the  dirt  to  just  the  proper  depth,  and  no  deeper.  In  this 
particular,  its  work  differs  from  that  accomplished  by  the  use  of  plows, 
shovels  or  hand  scrapers.  The  road  grader  leaves  a  smooth,  regular  surface, 
giving  the  road  the  proper  contour.  A  dirt  or  gravel  road  can  be  put  into 
excellent  shape  by  running  the  grader  repeatedly  over  it.  Care  should  be 
taken  first  to  remove  brush  and  rubbish  from  the  side  of  the  road,  that  the 
grader  may  not  carry  it  into  the  traveled  roadway. 

To  properly  finish  a  dirt  road  made  with  the  use  of  the  grader,  it  should 
be  thoroughly  rolled  and  hardened.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  it  be  crowned, 
but  it  should  be  made  hard  and  smooth.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  gravel 
roads.  This  can  be  best  accomplished  with  the  use  of  rollers.  Horse  rollers 
weighing  from  five  to  eight  tons  are  most  frequently  used  for  the  purpose. 
All  loose  stones  should  be  removed  from  the  road  surface  before  rolling,  as 
well  as  sods,  turf,  leaves,  sticks  or  any  other  matter  that  will  tend  to  soften 
the  road  bed.  A  road  that  is  thoroughly  and  repeatedly  rolled  is  well  fitted 
to  stand  the  wear  of  travel,  and  can  be  made  into  a  perfect  watershed. 

The  difficulty  about  the  use  of  road  machinery  in  many  localities  is  to  be 
found  in  its  cost.  It  is  frequently  thought  wrong  that  farmers  should  be 
obliged  to  tax  themselves  for  the  purchase  of  road  graders  and  road  rollers, 
in  addition  to  having  to  stand  the  regular  road  tax.  There  is  much  justice 
in  this  position,  for  the  average  farmer  pays  his  full  share  of  taxes,  and 
these  should  not  be  added  to  or  increased  without  some  very  excellent  rea- 
son. But  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  are  badly  in  want  of  good  roads, 
and  the  clamor  for  their  construction  is  growing  from  year  to  year.  Quite 
a  number  of  towns  have  solved  the  road  machinery  problem  by  voting  to  pay 
their  taxes  in  cash  instead  of  working  them  out,  and  using  a  parts  of  this 
fund  for  the  purchase  of  machines,  which  avoids  the  necessity  of  levying  an 
extra  tax  for  the  purpose.  This  plan  has  been  adopted  in  New  York  and 
Wisconsin,  and  probably  elsewhere.  The  town  of  North  Salem,  Westches- 
ter Co.,  N.Y.,  adopted  itasfar  back  as  i88r.  The  town  of  Canaan,  Columbia 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  adopted  it  in  1887.  In  Wisconsin,  C.  H.  Everett,  until  recently 
the  president  of  the  Wisconsin  Dairymen's  Association,  says  on  this  subject 
in  a  recent  letter  :  "  The  town  of  Turtle,  Rock  County,  where  I  reside,  was 
among  the  first  to  adopt  the  cash  system,  and  has  two  improved  road  graders. 
I  do  not  think  that  our  people  could  ever  be  induced  to  go  back  to  the  old 
system.  We  know  that  we  have  spent  enough  money  in  road  taxes  during 
the  past  fort}-  years  to  have  macadamized  ever}'  road,  and  until  we  began  to 
pay  our  road  taxes  in  cash  and  use  machinery,  there  had  been  little  or  no 
improvement  in  our  highways." 


330  Geological   Survey   of    Louisiana  [Sect. 

The  proposition  to  pay  road  taxes  in  cash  met  with  little  favor  in  the 
beginning.  Farmers  were  unwilling,  as  might  reasonably  be  expected,  to 
pay  their  road  taxes  in  cash  instead  of  in  work.  But  sentiment  is  now  largely 
the  other  way  among  intelligent  farmers,  since  experience  has  shown  that 
more  can  be  accomplished  with  one  dollar  of  tax  paid  in  cash,  than  two  dol- 
lars or  even  three  dollars  of  tax  worked  out  on  the  highway.  Where  the 
system  has  been  fairly  tried,  farmers  have  found  it  by  no  means  the  burden 
expected,  since  they  may  still  be  hired  by  the  road  officers  to  run  the 
machinery  used.  Two  cases  in  Wisconsin  are  instructive  on  these  points. 
Martin  J.  O'Malley,  chairman  of  the  town  of  Westport,  Dane  county, 
writes  :  '•  We  adopted  the  money  system  in  the  town  of  Westport  two  years 
ago.  We  purchased  a  good  road  grader,  and  we  levied  a  2-mill  road  tax 
instead  of  the  4-mill  tax  that  we  had  been  pa3'ing  working  the  old  way. 
The  people  are  allowed  to  vote  on  the  qviestion  at  every  election,  and  they 
are  fully  convinced  that  the  cash  system  is  the  only  true  way  of  getting  good 
roads.  There  has  been  more  work  done  on  our  roads  during  the  past  two 
years  than  in  twenty  years  before." 

The  same  experiment  was  tried  in  the  town  of  Middleton  in  the  same 
county,  and  with  the  greatest  success.  In  1894,  under  the  new  law  passed 
the  5^ear  before,  the  town  paid  its  road  taxes  in  cash,  and  used  part  of  the 
money  for  the  purchase  of  two  road  graders.  Wm.  F.  Pierstorff,  chairman 
of  the  town,  told  of  their  experience  in  an  address  delivered  at  Watertown, 
in  the  spring  of  1896.  "Under  the  old  laws,"  says  Mr.  Pierstorff,  "we 
always  levied  a  road  tax  of  4  to  6  mills.  In  1890,  a  tax  of  1^2,297.80  was  levied  ; 
in  i89r,  13,346.70;  in  1892,  $2,326  77,  andin  1893, 12,471.93.  In  1894,  the  first 
year  under  the  new  law,  we  levied  2  mills,  amounting  to  $1,051.58,  and 
bought  two  road  graders.  We  gave  the  farmers  a  chance  in  handling  graders 
to  work  at  three  dollars  per  day  with  team,  they  giving  us  ten  hours  for  a 
day's  work.  In  1895  we  levied  2  mills  as  before,  and  expended  $1,231.56  for 
our  regular  work  on  the  highway.  You  will  see  that  for  the  last  two  years 
we  expended  for  general  highway  purposes  an  average  of  $1,141.57  a  year, 
while  the  average  for  the  preceding  four  years  was  $2,827.28.  It  is  admit- 
ted by  all  that  there  was  more  w'ork  done  in  the  last  two  years  than  the  town 
has  ever  done  before.  You  can  do  more  work  with  three  teams  and  one 
grader  in  a  day  than  with  three  teams  and  a  small  scraper  in  a  week.  Our 
people  are  well  satisfied  with  the  new  system,  and  they  will  never  vote  to 
go  back  to  the  old  method  of  working  the  highway." 

For  the  most  recent  exhaustive  treatise  on  roads,  road-making  and  road 
materials,  see  Rept.  Geol.  Surv.  Md.,  Vol.  III. 


Special  Report  No.  g 

SOME   WOOD-DESTROYING   FUNGI 

BY 

Prof.  Geo.  F.  Atkinson 


CONTENTS 
Study  of  Fungi  in  General 
Fungi  on  Garden  Vegetables 
Fungi  on  Forest  Trees 

POLYPORUS    BOREALIS 

Page  Page 

Occurrence  and  distribution  .^-^^-^     How  the  tree  is  killed 334 

Characters 333     Starting  oftheftingusgcriu .  334 

How  nourished 333     Fruitage 335 

Hydnum  septentrionaltj 
Characters  a7id distribution  .  .  335 

FOMES     FOMENTARIUS 

Characters  ayid distribution .  .  335 

Trametes  pini 
Characters  and  distribution  .  .  337 

D^dalea  ambigua 
Characters 337     Accidents  in  growth 338 

Importance  of  a  Study  of  These  Fungi 


SOME    WOOD-DESTROYING   FUNGI 

STUDY    OF    FUNGI  IN    GENERAL 

Fungi  on  Garden  Vegetables 

During  the  past  ten  years  or  so  a  great  deal  of  attention  has 
been  given  to  those  low  forms  of  plant  life  known  as  fungi, 
which  cause  diseases  of  farm  and  garden  crops.  These  investiga- 
tions have  made  us  familiar  with  the  history  of  many  of  these 
enemies  of  the  farmer  and  horticulturist,  and  have  taught  us 
how  in  many  instances  to  successfully  combat  them.  This  has 
resulted  in  the  prevention  of  great  loss,  and  taking  the  country 
over,  thousands  of  dollars  each  year  are  now  saved  by  the  practi- 
cal application  of  the  knowledge  gained  by  studies  of  the  fungi. 

Fungi  on  Forest  Trees 

Very  little  attention,  however,  has  been  given  to  the  study  of 
those  forms  of  fungi  which  attack  forest  and  timber  trees, 
although  the  National  Government  for  a  number  of  years  has 
been  engaged  in  propagating  information  along  certain  lines  of 
forestry  work,  and  in  an  endeavor  to  arouse  general  interest  in 
the  question  of  the  preservation  of  forests,  as  well  as  in  the 
establishment  of  a  rational  method  of  timber  cutting,  which  shall 
protect  the  young  growth  and  provide  for  future  crops  of  timber. 

The  number  of  fungi  which  occur  on  living  and  dead  trees  in 
the  forest  is  verj^  large,  and  the  damage  which  is  caused  by  them 
in  producing  the  decay  of  fallen  timber,  of  cuttings,  and 
especially  in  causing  heart  rot  of  many  valuable  standing  timber 
trees  is  very  considerable.  When  one  begins  to  observe  these 
wood  destroying  fungi  in  the  forest,  one  is  impressed  with  the 
great  variety  of  form  which  they  possess,  indicating  that  there 
are  many  species  or  kinds- 

They  stand  out  as  brackets  or  shelves  from  the  trunks  of  trees, 
from  the  sides  of  fallen  logs,  from  old  stumps,  or  even  from  the 
ground  where  they  are  growing  from  some  decaying  wood  in  the 
soil,  or  perhaps  from  some  diseased  root.  Some  of  these  plants 
are  fleshy  and  soft  in  consistency,  so  that  they  soon  disappear. 
Others  are  more  or  less  tough,  and  dry  up  considerably  during 
dry  weather  but  expand  again  during  rains.     Still  others  are  of 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  9  :  Fungi  333 

quite  a  woody  or  cork}^  texture,  often  very  hard.     Many  of  these 
latter  ones  live  from  year  to  year  so  that  they  are  perennial. 

This  article  is  written  for  the  purpose  of  calling  the  attention 
of  those  who  frequent  the  forest,  either  from  a  professional  or 
from  a  pleasure  point  of  view,  to  these  enemies  of  the  forest. 
There  are  many  problems  of  interest  and  importance  presented  by 
the  relation  of  these  plants  to  the  timber  trees.  A  few  of 
these  problems  are  suggested  by  the  description  of  several  of 
these  plants. 
Polyporus  borealis  Plate  56 

Occurrence  and  distribution. — The  first  one  of  these  plants  to 
which  attention  is  called  here  is  very  active  in  causing  one  kind 
of  heart  rot  of  coniferous  trees,  especially  the  spruces,  pines, 
balsams,  hemlocks,  etc.  It  is  known  as  the  Polyporus  borealis. 
It  has  a  very  wide  distribution  not  onl}^  in  Europe  and  in 
America,  but  probably  in  other  countries  as  well.  A  photograph 
of  this  fungus  attached  to  a  living  hemlock  tree  is  shown  in  Plate 
56.  This  tree  occurred  in  one  or  the  deep  wooded  ravines  at  Ithaca, 
N.  Y.,  along  one  side  of  the  Campus  of  Cornell  Universit}-. 

Characters . — The  fungus  is  white  and  is  of  the  bracket  kind. 
As  can  be  seen,  there  are  several  brackets  growing  very  closely 
together  overlapping  each  other.  The  bracket  is  the  "fruit 
body."  While  these  plants  have  no  fruit  in  the  sense  that  the 
higher  plants  do,  yet  they  produce  countless  tiny  bodies,  called 
spores,  so  minute  that  we  cannot  see  them  except  with  the  aid 
of  a  microscope,  or  unless  there  are  a  large  number  of  them 
massed  together.  These  spores  are  capable  of  starting  a  new 
growth  of  the  fungus.  They  are  borne  on  the  under  side  of 
the  fungus,  in  minute  pores  or  tubes  which  are  so  numerous 
that  the  under  surface  of  the  bracket  reminds  one  of  a  honey- 
comb structure.  The  upper  side  is  hairy  with  coarse  strands 
which  bristle  all  over  the  surface.      It  is  rather  soft  and  spongy. 

How  nourished. — It  will  be  of  interest  to  know  how  such  a 
fungus  attached  to  a  living  tree  obtains  its  food  from  the  tree, 
and  also  how  it  is  enabled  to  cause  the  decay  of  the  heart  wood. 
In  the  first  place  the  fungus  is  growing  from  quite  a  large 
wound  in  the  side  of  the  tree.  The  tree  has  been  trying  to 
heal  over  the  wound  for  years  but  it  has  not  been  successful, 
for  the  wound  is  a  large  one.     The  healing  process,  however, 


334  Geological  Survey   of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

advanced  quite  far  as  can  be  seen  by  the  new  growth  all  around 
the  edge  of  the  wound. 

How  the  tree  is  killed. — Two  years  ago  when  I  first  observed  this 
tree  though  it  was  still  alive,  a  number  of  the  top  limbs  were  dead. 
This  suggested  that  the  rot  caused  by  the  fungus  extended  entirely 
through  the  tree.  To  determine  this  question,  and  also  to  see 
the  relation  of  the  fungus  to  the  decay,  as  well  as  to  determine 
the  structural  peculiarities  produced  in  the  wood  by  this  species, 
during  its  disintegrating  action  on  the  wood,  the  tree  was  felled 
and  sawed  up  into  short  sections.  These  sections  were  then  split 
and  a  large  number  of  them  were  preserved  for  examination. 

Several  of  the  blocks  of  heart  wood  split  from  the  tree  were 
photographed,  and  one  of  these  is  shown  natural  size  in  Plate 
57.  The  white  strands  which  extend  horizontally  in  the  wood 
are  the  strands  of  mycelium  which  is  the  vegetative  part  of  this 
fungus.  It  corresponds  to  the  so-called  "spawn  "  of  the  mush- 
room, which  is  characteristic  of  all  the  members  of  the  fungi 
belonging  to  the  mushroom  group,  though  there  are  varia- 
tions in  its  nature  and  extent.  These  strands  of  the  mycelium 
are  composed  of  numerous  delicate,  slender  fungus  threads  all 
woven  together.  They  extend  throughout  the  length  of  the 
tree  in  the  heart  wood.  They  grow  through  the  cell  walls  of 
the  wood  and  cause  the  disintegration  of  the  latter,  first  by 
opening  minute  holes  along  the  line  of  their  advance,  which  is 
in  a  longitudinal,  radial,  and  tangential  direction.  This  tends 
to  divide  up  the  wood  into  small  cubical  areas  which  are  more 
pronounced  later  as  the  fungus  threads  disappear  and  the  wood 
by  advanced  stages  of  decay  tends  to  collapse.  The  fungus 
threads  have  the  property  of  excreting  a  kind  of  ferment  which 
dissolves  the  woody  and  cellulose  walls,  thus  disintegrating  the 
wood  and  opening  a  way  for  the  advance  of  the  fungus. 

Starting  of  the  fungus  germ. — By  this  thorough  examination 
of  the  felled  tree  it  is  possible  to  make  out  the  history  of  this 
fungus.  The  photograph  in  Plate  56  tells  a  great  deal  of  the 
story  of  how  the  fungus  was  able  to  get  inside  of  the  tree  and 
then  to  grow  out  again  in  the  form  of  the  bracket  fruit  bodies. 
The  Polyporus  borealis  is  not  a  parsitic  fungus.  It  cannot  make 
its  way  unaided  through  the  sound  living  part  of  the  tree  which 


Ill]  Special  Report  No.  9  :  Fungi  335 

lies  just  beneath  the  bark.  The  heart  wood  of  the  tree  is  dead, 
so  that  the  fungus  when  it  once  gets  in  there  can  perform  its 
destructive  work.  The  living  wood,  just  underneath  the  bark, 
when  it  remains  unbroken  or  unharmed  forms  an  impassible  bar- 
rier to  the  entrance  of  the  fungus. 

How  then  did  the  fungus  first  get  into  the  heart  wood  of  the 
tree?  The  photograph  tells  us  something  of  that.  There  is  an 
old  decaying  log  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  hemlock  tree.  Twen- 
ty-five or  thirty  years  ago  this  log  was  a  standing  tree.  It  fell, 
and  in  its  descent  it  struck  the  projecting  base  of  the  hemlock  and 
knocked  off  the  bark  and  living  wood  from  quite  a  large  area,  two 
to  three  feet  in  length  and  a  foot  or  more  in  breadth.  The  wound 
was  so  large  that  it  could  not  heal  in  time  to  prevent  the  entrance 
of  the  wood  destroying  organisms.  Furthermore,  the  bruised  tis- 
sues would  afford  a  secure  lodgment  for  these  germs.  So  here 
was  formed  a  most  favorable  infection  court,  or  area.  During 
damp  weather  bacteria  and  fungus  germs,  the  chief  producers  of 
the  decay  of  organic  matter,  lodging  here  were  enabled  to  get  a 
foothold  and  start  the  disintegration  of  the  wood.  Among  them 
were  the  spores  of  this  Poly  poms  borealis.  These  spores  pro- 
duced the  delicate  mycelial  threads,  and  by  the  ferment  action 
of  their  products  these  threads  gained  access  to  the  heart  wood, 
where  there  was  an  abundance  of  moisture  for  growth  during 
the  entire  season.  From  this  point  mycelium  spread  upward 
and  outward  as  it  advanced  through  the  tree. 

Fruitage. — After  a  number  of  3^ears,  when  the  decay  had 
extended  far  up  in  the  tree  and  a  large  quantit}^  of  the  spawn 
or  mycelium  strands  had  formed,  reaching  a  large  feeding  area, 
there  was  a  sufficient  amount  of  food  within  reach  to  form  the 
bracket  fruit  bodies  which  can  only  be  formed  in  the  open  air. 
This  same  wound  then  provided  a  place  of  exit  for  the  fruiting 
stage.  The  spores  formed  over  the  honej'-combed  area  are  scat- 
tered by  the  wind,  and  are  ready  to  infect  other  trees  when  an 
opportunit}'  comes. 

HydMum  septentriouale.  Plate  58 

Character  and  distribution. — In  Plate  58  is  illustrated  another 
fungus  growing  on  a  living  sugar  maple  tree.  This  is  also  one 
of  the  bracket  or  shelving  fungi.     Its  natural  size  is  about  eight 


336  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

times  larger  than  appears  in  the  picture.  While  it  is  one  of  the 
bracket  fungi  it  differs  from  the  Polyporus  in  that  the  fruiting 
under  surface  is  not  in  the  form  of  a  honey-comb,  but  is  covered 
with  spinous,  or  awl-shaped  processes.  This  fungus  grows  in 
the  heart  wood  also,  and  the  interior  portion  of  the  tree  was  so 
badly  decayed  that  the  fungus  was  enabled  to  push  its  way  out 
through  a  long  crack  which  occurred  through  the  living  area. 
This  tree  was  one  of  a  grove  of  trees  in  Elysium  Park,  Cortland, 
N.  Y.,  and  was  so  weakened  by  the  action  of  the  fungus  that  it 
was  blown  down  during  a  severe  southeastern  gale  which  swept 
over  this  area  during  the  autumn  of  1897.  This  fungus  also 
occurs  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  is  widely  dis- 
tributed in  Europe,  where  it  also  occurs  on  the  maple. 

Fomes  fomentarius.  Plate  59 

Chatader  and  distribution . — During  the  same  gale  a  large  num- 
ber of  trees  weakened  by  the  attacks  of  the  wood  destroying 
fungi  were  blown  down  in  this  region.  Plate  59  represents  a 
beech  tree  weakened  by  wood  destroying  fungi  near  McLean, 
N.  Y.,  which  was  broken  over  at  this  time.  Upon  the  trunk 
can  be  seen  several  of  the  brackets  of  one  of  the  species,  the 
Fomes  fomentarius .  Its  fruiting  under  surface  is  honey-combed, 
but  it  is  very  different  in  habit,  texture,  form,  and  color  from 
the  Polyporus  borealis.  The  brackets  are  scattered  and  usuallj^ 
occur  singly,  so  that  several  do  not  overlap.  The  plant  is  shaped 
more  or  less  like  the  hoof  of  a  horse,  small  where  it  is  attached 
to  the  tree,  and  then  enlarged  outward  and  downward.  The 
under  surface  is  more  or  less  concave,  with  the  thick  margin  pro- 
jecting somewhat  like  the  edge  of  a  horse's  hoof.  Furthermore, 
the  surface  is  marked  by  a  number  of  concentric  ridges,  and  fur- 
rows, marking  off  the  age  of  the  bracket  in  years.  The  plant 
is  perennial,  and  each  year  a  new  la^^er  is  added  on  below,  which 
is  broader  than  the  layer  of  the  previous  year.  The  outer  sur- 
face is  light  brown  or  grayish  in  color  and  thus  harmonizes  with 
the  color  of  the  beech  bark,  while  the  under  surface  is  rich 
brown  in  color.  The  plant  is  quite  hard  and  woody,  especially 
the  outer  portion,  while  the  inner  portion  is  more  spongy  and 
fibrous  and  dark  brown  in  color.  The  inner  fibrous  portion  in 
years  gone  by  was  used  as   a  tinder  in  some  parts  of   Europe. 


m]  Special  Report  No.  9  :  Fungi  337 

The  plant  is  widely  distributed  on  both  Continents,  and   occurs 
also  on  the  birch,  maple,  and  other  deciduous  trees. 

Trametes  pini  Plate  60 

Character  and  disirihition. — Another  wood  destroying  fungus 
shaped  something  like  a  horse's  hoof,  but  much  more  irregular, 
is  the  Trametes  pini  shown  in  plate  60.  This  photograph  is 
taken  from  a  specimen  on  a  pine  log  collected  by  Professor 
Harris  near  Mansfield,  Louisiana,  during  the  winter  of  1898-99, 
The  fruiting  surface  here  is  also  honey-combed,  but  there  are 
other  characters  which  place  it  in  the  genus  Trametes,  instead  of 
\u  Polyporus  ox  Fomes.  This  plant  is  also  perennial  and  each 
consecutive  ring  represents  a  yearly  layer  added  by  growth,  the 
lowermost  layer  being  that  of  the  last  year's  growth.  This  fun- 
gus occurs  on  pines  in  Europe,  and  also  in  the  southern  and 
southwestern  United  States.  In  Europe  it  is  known  to  produce 
a  characteristic  and  serious  disease  of  the  timber  pines. 

Daedalea  ambigua  Plates  61  and  62 

Characters . — Another  very  interesting  fungus  is  that  shown 
in  Plates  61  and  62.  It  is  the  Dcedalea  ambigua,  also 
sometimes  called  the  Trametes  ainbigua.  The  honey-combed 
fruiting  surface  here  is  very  irregular,  sometimes  the  tubes  or 
pores  are  cylindrical  with  roiinded  mouths,  and  again  they  repre- 
sent elongated  or  sinuous  passages,  the  round  ones  illustrating 
Trametes  while  the  elongated  or  sinuous  ones  illustrate  Z?Wa/^a. 
Since  the  plant  in  this  character  varies  from  one  to  the  other,  it 
is  rather  "  ambiguous  "  as  to  which  genus  it  appertains,  and  so 
it  was  named  Dcedalea  ambigua.  This  plant  was  also  collected 
by  Professor  Harris  in  Louisiana. 

It  is  whitish  in  color,  of  a  very  beautiful  appearance,  grows 
on  several  different  deciduous  trees,  and  forms  a  true  single 
shelf.  An  individual  illustrated  in  Plate  61.  is  an  abnormal 
form  and  shows  to  us  one  very  interesting  peculiarity  of  all  these 
plants.  The  figure  to  the  left  represents  the  position  in 
which  the  fungus  grew  when  the  tree  to  which  it  was  attached 
was  standing.  At  this  time  the  broad  single  shelf  was  formed 
so  that  the  shelf  was  horizontal,  or  parallel  with  the  surface  of 
the  earth.     This  is  a  peculiarity  of  all  the  bracket  fungi,  and  of 


338  Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana  [Sect. 

the  mushrooms  as  well.  The  fruiting  surface  being  the  under 
surface  generally,  the  plane  of  the  cap  or  pileus  is  parallel  with 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  so  that  the  spores  of  the  fungus  can 
fall  easily  out  of  the  tubes,  or  from  between  the  awl-shaped  pro- 
cesses, or  from  between  the  gills  or  lamellae,  as  the  case  may  be. 
Accidents  i?i  growth. — Now,  if  by  any  chance  the  bracket,  or 
cap,  becomes  turned  in  another  direction  before  the  fungus  has 
completed  its  growth,  it  will  either  change  back,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  mushrooms,  or  new  growths  will  start  out  from  the  edge 
of  the  bracket  in  the  tough  or  woody  forms.  Now,  if  we  examine 
Plate  62  of  this  Dcedalea,  we  shall  see  the  position  of  the  plant 
after  the  tree  fell.  Since  the  entire  edge  of  the  large  bracket 
was  still  in  a  growing  condition  there  are  established  a  large 
number  of  growing  points,  each  of  which  develops  a  new 
bracket  parallel  with  the  surface  of  the  earth,  forming  a  series 
of  steps  up  one  side  and  down  the  other. 

Importance  of  a  Study  of  These  Fungi 

From  a  few  of  the  observations  here  presented  it  will  be  seen 
how  some  of  these  fungi  work  serious  injuries  to  forest  and 
timber  interests.  The  trees  which  are  attacked  may  live  on  for 
years  or  even  for  a  century  or  more,  but  each  3'ear  the  injury 
to  the  timber  in  the  tree  is  greater,  until  within  a  few  j^ears  it  is 
worthless.  A  careful  study  of  the  conditions  of  attack  b}'  these 
enemies  of  the  forest,  as  well  as  of  their  life  histories,  and  the 
characteristic  injuries  to  the  trees  would  do  much  to  teach  us 
how  to  prevent  such  injuries  and  loss  in  the  forest.  The 
wonderful  variety  of  form  and  kind  among  these  plants  make 
them  objects  of  great  importance  to  those  who  are  interested  in 
nature.  There  is  here  a  great  field  for  new  observations  on  the 
part  of  those  whose  professional  work  leads  them  to  the  forest 
When  such  persons  become  interested  enough  in  these  questions 
to  prepare  themselves  for  making  accurate  observations,  by 
some  training  in  the  study  of  fungi,  they  can  do  great  good 
in  bringing  to  light  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  dis- 
tribution of  these  plants,  and  careful  study  by  trained  observers 
must  precede  any  successful  attempts  toward  a  rational  treatment 
designed  to  lessen  the  losses  now  sustained  from  these  sources. 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  iS 


Plate  56 


POLYPORUS   BOREALIS 

(Growing  on  hemlock.) 


Geological  Survey  of  Louisiana,  Report,  1899 


Plate  57 


,,       Iff     iM^f, 

.ilWf'm'i]l~liiiif«r! 


III 


HEARTWOOD   SHOWING   MYCELIUM 


Geological  Survey  of  I.otisl^na,  Report,  1S99  Plate  58 


HYDNUM   SEPTENTRIONALE 

(Growing  on  sugar  maple.) 


Geological  Survey  of  Lovisiana,  Report,  1899 


Plate  59 


FOMES   FOMENTARIUS 
(On  beech.) 


AA 


INDEX 


Aboriginal  Works,  Caddo  Bottoms 201 

Achatina 20 

Attakapas  Prairie 257 

Alluvium  and  recent  costal  formations.    117 

Altitudes  in  Northern  Caddo  parish  and  adjacent  portions  of  Bossier. 

Dictionarj-  of 203 

Andromeda  delicatula PI-  45,  287 

Andromeda  eolignitica PI.  47,  287 

Angiospermcc 279,  280 

Apocynacece 288 

Apocynophyllum  sapindifoliiuu PI.  46,  288 

AquifoliaceiT  285 

Aralia 281 

Area  cuculloides 301 

viississippensis 32 

rhonboidalis 77 

Arcadia 84 

Clays,  described  b}'  Lerch 40 

Well  section  at 84 

Arick's  mound 202 

Artesian  wells  of  Calcasieu,  discussed  by  Hilgard 23 

Artocaipus  dubia PI-  38,  28 1 

lessigiana PI.  37-  281 

pimgens PI.  38,  281 

Astarle  smithvillensis  PI-  53.  fig-  7.  302 

Atkinson ,  Geo.  F 33 1 

Avellana  bullata 296 

Avery,  John  Marsh PI.  20,  opp.  p.  216 

Baciilites  anceps PI.  5 1 ,  fig.  6,  297 

Barbatia  cuculloides  PI.  53,  fig-  3.  301 

Bartram 12 

Basilosaurus 17 

Bayou  Chicot  limestone 61 

Bayou  Toro 9°.  129 

Belle  Isle 138. 

Archaeology 229 

Contour  map  of  salt  deposits PI.  24,  opp.  p.  232 

Discovery  of  salt 222 

Fossils 224 

BB 


340  Index 

Belle  Isle 

Geology    223 

Location 221 

Section  of  hole  No.  12 227 

Section  of  hole  No.  13 228 

Section  of  sand  pit 224 

Section  of  shaft 225 

Topographic  map  of PI.  21,  opp.  p.  217 

Topograph}' 22 1 

Well  sections PI.  22,  opp.  p.  225 

f^eleninites 17 

Bellevue   S6 

Section  at 86 

lienchmarks,  U.  S.  E 20S 

Bernard 16 

Bienville  parish 83 

Bistineau  salt  work 1 24 

Black  bayou 155 

swamp,  Origin  of 169 

Black  lake 77 

bayou 155 

bayou  gravel  train,  The 102 

Section  near 78 

Bluff,  wave-formed PI.  17,  opp.  p.  176 

Bossier  parish 85 

Bottom  lakes,  Classes  of 183-188 

Origin  of 1 83 

Boyce 130 

Breaux  Bridge .      138 

Breazeale  spring 148 

Chemical  analysis  of 148 

Buccinanops  elliptictim PI-  54,  figs.  4,5,  305 

Building  stone 130 

Caddo  parish.  Map  of  northern PI.  16,  opp.  p.  169 

Calcareous  soil 147 

Calcasieu 33 

Well  .section,  after  Hopkins 33 

Well  section 62 

Calhoun 82 

Calyplraphorus  trinodiferns 307 

Camptoiiedes  ( Ainusiuni)  burlingtonensis 294 

burling tonensis PI.  50,  fig.  3,  294 

Cancellaria  quercollis PI-  54,  fig-  3,  305 

Cardiiiin  alabatiietise PI-  50,  fig.  4,294 

uicoUetti 18 

tuoiiieyi PI.  53,  figs.  9,  10,  303 


Index 


341 


Carpenter ijj 

Cassidaria  brei'identata joy 

Cedar  bluff 71 

lick 61 

Celastracecs 285 

Celastrus  taurinensis PI.  46,  285 

veatchi Pl.  43,  285 

Ceronia 304 

Charlevoix 1 1 

Cheftel's  lake : 150 

Chimney  Rock,  Winnfield,  La PI.  i,  opp.  p.  56 

Cinnatnomum  buchi PI.  43, 283 

dubium 283 

polymorphum 283 

scheuchzeri PI-  41,  283 

sezannense Pk  42,  283 

spectabile 283 

Claiborne  Parish   88 

Clays 127 

Composition  of 266 

Effect  of  heat  on 268 

Fire  shrinkage  of 268 

Origin  of 265 

Ph3'sical  properties  of 266 

Physical  tests  of  Louisiana  satnples 272 

samples,  Report  of  Louisiana 264 

Section  at  Chalk  Hills 128 

Section  at  Spring  Ridge  Church 128 

Shrinkage 267 

Slaking 27 1 

Structure 265 

Clear  lake 159 

Clendenin 43 

Columbia 80 

R.  R.  cut  near PI.  6,  opp.  p.  8r 

Compass  Needle,  The   , 312 

surveying 313 

Comparison  of  the  Louisiana  rock  salt  deposit  to  the  great  deposits  of 

the  world 261 

Conrad 18 

Coochie  brake 79 

limestone PI.  2 ,  opp.  p.  57 

limestone.  Sketch  map,  ^-icinity  of  outcrop 59 

timber PI.  3 ,  opp.  p.  64 

Co-operation  with  National  surveys 7,8 


342  Index. 

Cope 42 

on  Pleistocene  Mammalia  from   Petite  Anse,  La 42 

Corbula  alabamensis   303 

oniscus 18 

Cornacece  286 

Cornua  auDiionis 17 

Cornus  studeri PI-  45>  286 

Cote  Blanche 230 

Geology 230 

Location  and  Topography 230 

Section  at  Sea-Cliff 231 

Cote  Caroline 254 

Geology 255 

Location  and  Topography 254 

Cottonwood  bayou 156 

Couley 79 

Coushatta  bluff 85 

Section  at   200 

Cowhide  and  Horseshoe  ]:)ayou 156 

Coxe II 

Crassatella ,  sp 302 

vadosa PI.  50,  fig.  5,  295 

Cretaceous  fossils   292 

outrops, 104 

series.  .■ 52,  62 

Cross  bayou 157 

lake 158 

bridge,  Old  shore  line  at 174 

Delta  at  foot  of PI,  15,  opp.  p.  168 

Cross,  Caddo  and  Ferr}-  Lakes,  Formation  of 168 

Cryptocarya  eoligiiiiica PI •  42 ,  283 

Cryptogamia 279 

Cyperites,  sp PI-  32,  279 

Cyprcea   ludoviciana • 44 

va  iighan  i 44 

Dcedalc  anibigiia , PI .  6 1  and  62,  337 

Danville  landing 93 

Dap/iJiogetie  longiqiia 283 

kanii  PI.  41,  284 

sezannense 283 

D'Arbonne 89 

Darb}' 14 

Delafield 15 

Delta,  foot  (f  Cross  lake PI.  15,  opp.  p.  168 

Formation  of 174 

Demeril 18 


Index  343 

Determination  of  meridian  lines 8 

Dickeson  and  Brown 20 

Dicotyledo7ice 280 

Dolet  Hills 135 

Doole^-'s  baj'OLi 156 

Drake 21 

on  gas  theory  of  mud  lumps 21 

Drake's  salt  works '.    55,  121 

Drift  period 34 

Dunbar 12 

Duralde 13 

Earliest  geological  work 11 

Economic  Geology 121 

Edwards 36 

Microscopic  examination  of  New  Orleans  well  material 36 

ElcEOcarpus  curopceus 2S6 

Ellet 21 

Elmer's  ba^-ou 155 

Engelhardt,  Referred  to 288 

Gceppertia  speciabilis 28.S 

Eocene,  at  Natchitoches 147 

Series    63-93 

EquHS 42 

major 38 

Ericacece 287 

Exogyra  costata 24 

costata PI-  49,  fig-  i -  63,  292 

FagacecB 280 

Ferrj-  lake 159 

Ficus  artocarpoides .    PI.  35 ,  281 

harrisiana PI.  46,  281 

lanceolata • . .  287 ,  288 

planicostata PI.  36,  282 

Five  Islands,  The 62,  118,  125,  207 

Age  of  salt  deposits     •. 260 

described  by  Stoddard 13 

Geographical  position  and  general  topographical  features 219 

Histor}'  of  the  study  of  the  Islands 213-219 

Special  report  on.  Contents 209-21 2 

Fonies  fomentariiis Pk  59,  336 

Forshey 37 

Fort  Jessup 69 

Fossil  bones 17 

plants 276 

wood 3^ 

Fourth  of  July  sprin  g I47 


344  Index 

Ffaxinus  johnstrupi  ? 1^1-44,  287 

Fungi 332 

Importance  of  stud}' 338 

on  garden  vegetables 332 

on  forest  trees 332 

Wood-destroying 332 

Fusoficitla  jiivenis PI.  55,  figs.  2,  3,  307 

Fusiis  harrisi .' PI.  52,  fig.  7,   299 

ludoviciana 44 

Gabb 32 

Galena 225 

Gas  well,  Burning PI.  11,  opp.  p.  137 

Geologic  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,  by  Re}-niond  Thomass}- 21 

Geology  of  the  Bottoms 1 75 

of  Hill-lands,  Notes  on 189 

Georgetown 80 

Gibbsland 85 

Glencoe,  Artesian  well 258 

W'ell  section  258 

Graham 15 

Gra7ninecc , 279 

Grand  Cane    , 73 

Grande  Cote.  Archaeolog}- 234 

Geolog}- 234 

Cross  section  of PI.  30,  opp.  p.  241 

History  of  mining  operations 233 

Location   and   Topography .  .    232 

Map  of  salt  deposits PI.  29,  opp.  p.  241 

salt  shaft PI.  26,  opp.  p.  233 

Topographic  map  of PI.  25,  opp.  p.  232 

well  sections PI.  27,  opp.  p.  233 

well  sections PI.  28,  opp.  p.  240 

Grand  Ecore 71 

Grand  Gulf 94 

group 23 

Origin  of  term 94 

sandstone  near  Lena PL  8,  opp.  p.  96 

Grandview  bluflf 93 

Gravel    * 131 

Gryphea  convexa 292,  293 

mutabilis 293 

pitcheri 24,  63 

Ihirsce 300 

z'esictilaris PL  49,  fig.  2,  pi.  50,  figs.  1,2,  292,  293 

Gypsum    137 

Hale's  wood  vard 202 


Index  ' 345 

Haihiiiea  graiidis 92 

Hainiiietf  s  branch 85 

Harlan 16 

Harris,  former  work  in  northwest  Louisiana 41 

G.  D 2S9,  311 

Letter  of  transmission 6 

Harrisonburg 130 

Hayes 36 

Haynesville 88 

Hedera 281 

auriculata 282 

Helicina  orhciulata 176 

Hervej-'s  canal 158 

Heleroceras,  sp PL  51 ,  fig.  4,  297 

Hilgard 23,  107 

"  On  the  Geolog}'  of  the  Delta  and  the  INIud-lunips  of  the  passes  of 

the  Mississippi. " 26 

on   the    "Geology    of    Lower    Louisiana   and    the    Rock    Salt   of 

Petite  Anse. " 27 

History  of  Geological  work  in  Louisiana 11 

HolHck,  Arthur 276 

Homer 88 

Hopkins  (Prof. ) 29,  32 

Humphreys  and  Abbott 22 

Hydnuin  septentrionale PI-  58,  335 

Ice  factory  well 199 

Ideal  section  across  state,  Hopkins 33 

Ilex  affiiiis Pi-  44,  285 

gratidifolia 288 

hibschi 285 

longifolia 285 

Importance  of  fossils    7 

Indian  relics  at  Cedar  bluff 71 

Inoceraniits  bambini PI.  51,  fig.  2.  295 

Iron  ore 132 

Anah-ses  of 133 

Iron  springs 148 

Chemical  analysis  of 148 

Jackson  group,  Hopkins 34 

parish 82 

stage 89 

Jeaunerette  well  sections 257 

Johnson,  C.  W 43 

L.  C 108 

Jones 19 

Jvidge  Bry's  comments  on  Geology  of  Northern  Louisiana 16 


346  Index 

Ju}::landacecc 280 

Juf^lans  dubia 280 

occidetitalis 2S0 

riigosa PI.  35,  280 

Juglans  schimperi Pi's  32,  33,  35,  280 

Kansas  City,  Pittsburg  and  Gulf  R.  R.,  cut  near  Cross  lake  bridge..  . .      198 

Kellia  prima PI-  53.  fig-  1 1 ,  302 

King's  salt  works 63 

Kirkman's  well 25 

Knowlton 38 

Lafayette 99 

Features  of  formation  in  Ivouisiana 100 

east  of  Mississippi 10 1 

Origin  of  term   99 

Lake  Bristineau,  Head  of 55 

Lake  Charles   137 

Lakes,  formation  of 163 

LauracecB 2S3 

Laiinis prunigenia ' PI.  41 ,  284 

primigenia 288 

primeps 288 

Laxispira  linnhricalis PI.  51 ,  fig.  3,  296 

Lead  and  Zinc   1 37 

Leda  acala 301 

aldrichiana PI-  53,  fig-  5,  301 

corpulenioides    301 

Leech  neighborhood 76 

Legtinien  planulatum PI.  51 .  fig.  i ,  296 

Leidy 38 

Leiosfoma  ?    ludoviciana PI.  52,  fig.  8,  299 

Lerch 39 

Preliminary  Report  by 39 

Leton ,  Section  at 87 

Letters  of  transmission 4-6 

Levifusus  indentns PI-  54,  fig-  8,  72,  306 

pagoda PI.  54,  fig.  10,  306 

supraplaniis PI.  54,  fig.  9,  306 

traheat  aides 306 

Liberty  Hill ' 84 

Lignite 134 

Lignite  described  by  Stoddard 14 

Lignitic • 299 

stage .       64 

Lima pelagica PI.  49,  fig-  5,  294 

Limestone 130 

Analysis  of  Winnfield 130 


Index  347 

Limestone 

concretions,  Tertiary 131 

in  salt 227 

near  Coochie  brake 59 

Lincoln  parish 82 

Linearia  metastriata PI.  50,  fig.  7,  296 

Lisbon 88 

Loess,  General  Characteristics  of 116 

Origin  of  the 116 

and   Yellow  loam,  origin  of  terms 115 

Lone  Grave  bluff 82 

Lotus  Landing,  Wells  at 180 

Louisiana  Oil  Co's  Well 25 

Lower  Claiborne 145 

stage 73 

Low''s  creek 67 

below  Sabinetown ,  Texas 74 

L 2icin(r  77 

Lucina  ozarkana 303 

Lyell 19,  107 

on  the  Delta  and  Alluvial 19 

Mactra  bistriata PI-  53.  Ak-  4.  303 

pnrtenitis 303 

Magnetic  Declination : 322 

31agnoliace(P 282 

Magnolia  hilgardiana PI-  39.  282 

lanceolata PI.  40,  282 

longipetiolata 282 

McGee 108 

Mansfield 72 

group 23 

Section  at 72 

Many 136 

Topographic  map  of ...  PI.  4,  opp.  p   65 

Vicinity  of 68 

Map   making   7 

Marl 137 

Marthaville 71 

Mastodon   aniericanus 3'^ 

Mazzalina plena PI.  54,  fig.  12,  306 

Meridian  lines,  determination  of 312 

at  Alexandria 322 

at  Colfax   ■•  318 

at  Columbia 3^9 

at  Floyd    322 

at  Harrisonburg 320 


348  Index 

Meridian  lines,  rietennination  of 

at  Mansfield 317 

at   Many 317 

at   Monroe 321 

at  Natchitoches 317 

at  Shreveport 320 

at  Winnfield 318 

how  established 314 

need  of . 314 

Microscopical  examination  of  New  Orleans  well  material,  Edwards.  .  .       36 

Minden 87 

Mineral  prodncts,  unimportant ' 132 

resources 121 

Mitra  grantensis 44 

Modiola  alabamensis PI-  53.  fig-  2,  300 

stiibhsi  n.  sp .  .n.  52,  fig.  5,  6,  298 

Monocotyledorice • 279 

Monroe 82 

Montgomery 91 

Bluff  at PI.  7,  opp.  p.  89 

MoraceiT  281 

Morton 17 

Mounds,   Origin  of 192-194 

Mud  himps,  Description  of .  .  .  .  .• • 1 19 

Theories  of  origin  of 119-20 

Mylodon 42 

harlini  ^ 38 

My7-ica  F   lessigii 281 

Nassa   e.rilis PI.  55,  fig.  i ,  307 

Natchitoches .  70-77 

area    141 

Back  lands 147 

Front  lands   146 

Bluff  on  Cane  river  near     PI-  13,  opp-  P-  i45 

parish 76 

stratigraphy 144 

topograph}- 141 

township,  Sketch  of   PI.  12,  opp.  p.  144 

Natchez  bluff  as  described  b}-  Lyell 20 

Fossils  near   20 

Cydas 20 

Cyclosto)iia 20 

Heliiina 20 

Helix 20 

Horse    20 

Lyniiuc  .    20 


Index  349 

Mastodon 20 

Megalonyx  20 

Paludina 20 

Physa 20 

Planorbis 20 

Pupa 20 

Succinea 20 

Stag 20 

Natica  alabamiensis    PI.  55,  fig.  9,  308 

aperta PI.  55 ,  fig-  !^,  308 

etninula PI-  55,  fig-  7,  308 

Neithea  qninquecostata PI.  49,  figs.  6,  7,  294 

New  Orleans  well  material,  microscopic  examination,  by  Edwards.  ...       36 

Negreet,  lower 74 

ba^-ou    .' 138 

P.  O. ,  Vicinity  of 68 

New  Hope  church 79 

Nita  Crevasse,  The,  Johnson 38 

Northern  Union  and  Claiborne 104 

Nuttall 15 

"Old  salt  works  " 55 

Old  shore  line  at  Cross  lake  bridge 174 

Older  Tertiarj^  The 195 

OleacecE 287 

Oligocene 93 

Olla 92 

Oniphalina  friabilis 176 

Ostrea   crenuliniarginata   PI.  52,  fig.  i ,  a,  297 

falcata 293 

falciforniis 77 

{Alectryonia)  larva 293 

larva PI-  49-  fig-  3,  293 

plumosa PI.  49,  fig.  4,  293 

pulaskensis PI-  52,  fig-  2,  3,  4,  198 

thirscs ; 72 

thirsts PI-  53,  fig-  I1  300 

vesicularis 292 

Orange  sand  formation 23 

Orbitoides  32 

niantelli 30,  34 

Ouachita 92 

Ouachita  river  gravel  trains .  .      104 

Outlet  ba3-ous,  Formation  of 161 

Ovula  sicbtruncata 44 

Owen 19-  23 


350  Index 

Pahnoxylon  cellulosuvi 3^ 

quinstedti 38 

Pascagoula   fonnatioii,  The 94 

Peach  Orcliard  bayou 1 56 

Pedetiiles 17 

Pec  ten  burling  tonetisis ....     294 

cornuus 67 

poulson  i 32 

quinquecostata 294 

Pendleton 65 

fossils 66 

Persea  speciosa PI.  41 ,  284 

Petite  Anse 130 

Archceology  of 251 

Cj-press  stump  section 250 

Geology ;    243 

History  of  mining  Operations 239 

Lakes 249 

Location — Topography 237,  238 

Marsh  fires 249 

Toprographic  map  of PI.  31,  opp.  p.  249 

Section  at  new  shaft 247 

Vertebrate   remains 245 

Yearly  production  of  salt 248 

Petroleum  and  Gas 137 

Phaneroganiia '.     279 

Physiography  of  the  Bottoms 181 

Pholas  alatoides PI.  53,  fig.  1 2 ,  304 

Phos  hilli ,  var.  niagnocostattis 44 

Pipe  clay 24 

Pinna 93,  300 

Plagiostoma  pelagica 294 

pelagicuin 294 

Plans  of  operation 7 

Pleuroloina  huppertzi 304 

servatoidea 304 

silicata ....  PI.  54,  fig.  i ,  304 

siphns 69 

PleurotoDiella  vcatchi PI.  54,  fig.  2,  305 

Poacites,  sp PI.  32,  279 

Polygyra  clausa 176 

infleda 176 

palliata  / 1 76 

thyroides 176 

Polypodiacecr 279 

Polyponts  borealis PI-  56,  333 


Index  351 

Port  Hudson  bluff 12 

fossils 1 14 

group 23 

Origin  of  term 1 1 1 

Tbickness 114 

Poston  's  bayou 157 

Potters  clay 24 

Poussin 16 

Prairie  Au  Large,  well  section    258 

Price's  lick 55 

salt  works 123 

Provencal 77 

Pseudoliva  sp 69 

vetusta PI-  54,  figs.  6,  7,  305 

Pteris pseudopenncsformis PI.  32,  279 

Pteridophyta 279 

Ptyclwccras,  near  crassum PI-  51 ,  fig.  5,  297 

Pyramidiila  alternata 176 

Ouaternar\-   107 ,  146 

formations  of  Louisiana,  development  and  characteristics 109 

phenomena 118 

Ouerciis  elcena 286 

juglandina 287 

niicrodentata PI.  34,  280 

Radula  pelagica 29A 

Raft,  changes  due  to  formation 167 

Changes  due  to  removal 171-173 

Early  attempts  at  removing 164-166 

Effects  of 167 

Final  removal 166-167 

Growth  and  Decaj-  of 161 

Growth  of  vegetation  on  surface    164 

Original  extent 160 

Origin 160 

Rate  of  advance  of  head 162 

Retreat  of  foot 163 

The  great 160 

Rangia 12 

Rattan  P.  O 9° 

Rayburn's  salt  works 52,  122 

Fossils  at 55 

Map  of . .      53 

Red  and  Old  Red  bayous i55 

Red  land  area 86 

Red  river 152 

bottom  basins i53 


352  Index 

Bank  Section,  James  Eric's  place 175 

slope 154 

valley,  Soil  map  of PI-  M,  opP-  P-  i53 

wells  below  Shreveport,  General  section  of 179 

Width  of  channel 153 

Reversal  of  drainage  system 173 

Redwine's  spring 83 

Rhavinacecc 286 

Rhamnus  cleburni PI-  47)  286 

Ries,  Heinrich 263 

Road  inquiry ,  Office  of .    326 

improvement S 

machinery 328 

making  bj-  convict  labor 326 

Historical  and  technical  papers  on 326 

monuments 327 

No  surveys  made  of 327 

Notes  on,  by  G.  D.  Harris 325 

Objects  of  a  road  survey 327 

Practical  instruction 326 

State  aid 326 

State  laws 326 

materials • 328 

Robeline 7° 

Rock}-  Spring  church 63 

Rosefield 93 

Fossils  at  93 

Rostellaria  vclala 29 

Ruston,  Nine  miles  west  of 83 

Sabine  parish  salt  works 124 

Sabinetown 67 

Texas,  Profile,  bluff  at 28 

Salines  of  North  Louisiana,  discussed  by  Hilgard 23 

described  b}-  Stoddard 13 

Salix  longa 287 

Salt    I2t,  226 

Analyses  of 227,  248 

licks 66 

Sands i99 

and  clays,  colored 190 

Sandstone  varieties 129 

Sandy  soil,  light I47 

Sapindus  angustifolius Pk  25,  286 

Spotacece 287 

Sapotacites  americanus PI-  42,  287 

Scale,   illuminated 3^5 


Index  353 

Sediment  of  the  Mississippi,  The,  by  Dickesoii  and  Brown 20 

Sedimentation 1 70 

Sewell's  canal 157 

Shells  from  the  front  land 176 

Shreveport 73,  136,  138 

Delta  near PI.  15,  opp.  p.  168 

elevations 205 

Location 152 

Slaughter  Pen  bluff  near PI.  18,  opp.  p.  200 

Table  of  contents  of  S.  area 149 

Sigaratus  declivus PI-  55,  fig.  10,  308 

Silver  lake  and  Poston's  lake,  formation  of 169 

Sinipkin's   place 75 

Slaughter's  creek  lignite 66 

Sodo  lake 158 

Soil  maps ;    7 

Soils,  origin 1 78 

Peculiarities  and  distribution  of 177 

varieties 177 

Solarium  bellcnse • Pk  55i  fig-  n.  308 

Solsniya  p/a>tii/ata 296 

Sparta 84 

Montgomerj'  road,  24th  mile  stone 80 

sands 43 

Springs 147 

Sterling  and  Irishman's  bavou 156 

St.  Maurice 78 

Bluff    at PI.  5,  opp.  p.  73 

and  Montgomery 103 

•  Stoddard 13 

Stone  Coal  bluff,  vSabine  river 66,  135 

Stonewall 73 

Storm}-  point.  Ferry  lake 202 

Stubbs,  letter  of  transmission 4 

Sulphur 1 26 

City,  Calcasieu  parish 1 26 

in  mass PI.  10,  opp.  p.  129 

mining PI.  9,  opp.  p.  128 

Syke's  Ferry 88 

Talcott 19 

Tancock's  prairie 91 

Terebratulina  sp PI.  5 1 ,  fig.  7,  297 

Test  wells 7 

Tetranthera  prcecursonia PI.  44,  284 

Thetis  sp 295 


354  Index 

Thoinassy 21 

section  of 258 

' '  Tomitclla  ?  bnllaia  " 296 

Totten,  Joseph  G.,  report  of 19 

Toxylon  longipetiolatiini PI.  48,  282 

Trametes  pini PI.  60,  337 

Transit,  The,  its  use 312 

Trezevent  mound 202 

Trigonia   cufaulensis PI.  50,  fig   9,  295 

Trinity  baj'ou ] 56 

Tritonidea  pachecoes PI-  54-  fig-  1 1 >  306 

Tullos 91 

Turrilella   huiiierosa PI-  55,  fig-  5.  308 

morloni PI.  52,  fig.  9,     PI.  55,  fig.  4,  69,  299,  308 

pauper 297 

prcecimta PI.  55.  fig-  6,  308 

Uhnacece 280 

UlniKS  ieniiinervis PI.  32,  280 

Upland  falts,  Age  of 191 

Vasherie  branch 80 

Vaughan  on  Stratigraph}-  of  Northwestern  Louisiana 42 

Veatch,  A.  C I49.  209 

Veniella,  sp 295 

Venericardia planicosta,  var PI.  53,  fig.  6,  69,  93,  302 

Vernon  parish 1 29 

Vicksburg  group 23 

Victoria  Mills  76 

Vienna §3 

Vining  Mills   82 

Volutilithcs  petrosHS. 69,  305 

Waterfalls  and  Rapids,  Formation  of 182 

Water  supply 1 79 

Wave-formed  bluff PI-  17.  opp.  p.  176 

Webster  parish,  Northern  part 8? 

Well  sections 19° 

Winnfield 79 

limestone 5° 

' '  marble  ' '  quarry,  v'^ketch  of 57 

Winn  parish    7^ 

Wyant's  Bluff 93 

Yellow  loam.  The 116 

Distribution  of ■ '  7 

Yoldia  aldric/iiana 3oi 

corpidentoides .    .  .' 3°! 

Yoiingblood  mound 202 

Zeuglodon  bones  found  at  Tullos 92 

cetoides '9 


•u 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  632  884     3 


U  rc-' 


.J         r 


■V>-..-, 


.  6 


a.  1210  00259  4735 


C^ 


